The Gilbert Chronicles: Awake At Nightfall
by Darksabre35
Summary: Madison, Elena, and Jeremy Gilbert are still struggling to cope with their parents' deaths at the beginning of their sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school, respectively. The supernatural complicates their lives when Maddie and Elena realize Elena's BF Stefan is a vampire, her BFF is a witch, and Maddie may or may not be entirely normal...
1. Prologue

**Author's Note and Disclaimer:** _Hello everyone, and welcome to my first Vampire Diaries fanfiction! I am still somewhat new to the Vampire Diaries fandom, and I hope you will all be patient with me as I find my wings here. Please feel free to PM me with ideas, comments, and suggestions at any time (or leave your thoughts in a review *wink*); I am writing this story not only for my own enjoyment, but to have the pleasure of interacting with other TVD fans! _

_I DO NOT own the Vampire Diaries, as much as I might like to. I will be using the episode transcripts available on the Vampire Diaries wiki as a guide to this story, so the basic storyline will remain more or less intact. Much of dialogue will be taken verbatim from aforementioned transcripts, and I DO NOT own whatever "canon" quotes appear in this narrative. I hope you will all enjoy this story, as much as I am enjoying writing it!_

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_**Prologue**_**  
**

Once upon a time, there was a little town called Mystic Falls, Virginia. Mystic Falls was extremely insignificant in terms of nationwide affairs, much less on a global scale. It was one of those idyllic small towns whose little churches with white steeples adorn the covers of postcards and which city tourists coo over but do not remain in for long because of how "boring," or "unexciting" it is.

Mystic Falls did have an interesting history, as far as small towns went – (but then, which Southern small town _doesn't_ in some way or another?). It had been founded by five wealthy families in 1860 A.D. (the Fell family, the Forbes family, the Gilbert family, the Lockwood family, and the Salvatore family). Eventually, these families came to be known as the Founding Families of Mystic Falls, Virginia. As the years passed by, the Founding Families both maintained and strengthened their prestigious position in the town, eventually coming to be regarded as the "royal families" of sorts of Mystic Falls. They founded the Town Council, a board of dedicated civil servants who managed the political and economic affairs of Mystic Falls, and played a great role in shaping its social life as well.

Members of the Town Council tended to be somewhat secretive, and it was no secret to the inhabitants of Mystic Falls that founding families often built secret closets in their homes and preserved old artifacts and memoirs of their ancestors such as diaries and watches. However, this was perceived as nefarious in any way – what family does not want to preserve their progenitor's musings on the Civil War, or preserve the pistols their ancestor fought with in the Civil War, or display the pretty, delicate embroidered sampler their Great- Aunt So-and-So made while waiting for her husband to return a hero from the war (the husband who returned _sans_ one leg and became the old man who regaled the town's children with wild tales of war until he died peacefully in his sleep at the ripe old age of ninety-something) ? Indeed, many American families are fond of displaying old firearms, knives, and other possessions of their ancestors on their mantelpieces.

There is the small fact that diaries and letters often contain facts which the writer did not wish to share at the moment he was writing them, or never intended to share, but so what? The worst any of these diaries could contain would perhaps be the embarrassing fact that Mr. X had an affair (and possibly a child – what a _scandal_!) with Ms. Y while married to Mrs. X, and that Ms. Z's father was therefore not actually Mr. Z but Mr. X. Or perhaps these diaries might reveal the even more shameful fact that Mr. X had had an affair with Mrs. X's slave woman. Or, the supposedly honorable Mr. X had cheated Mr. Y of some money – but of course, that had happened long ago, and it would be foolish for the Forbes to hold a grudge against the Fells for something their ancestors did in the 1920s. Grudges and feuds were not very common among the founding families, though they certainly _did_ occur sometimes.

So Mystic Falls has gone on with its idyllic, mundane existence for one hundred and fifty years. The worst occurrences in this little town are funerals, which of course are the result of natural causes, and some more adventurous souls actually find themselves wishing something bad would happen – not because they are malicious, but because their lives are so utterly _predictable_. Such adventurous souls, when particularly bored with their current existence, might wander out to the edge of town where the ruined houses of original inhabitants of Mystic Falls lie rotting quietly amidst overgrown trees and bushes, wrapped and strangled in ivy and looking out at the world through shattered windows. These houses groan at night when the wind blows, almost as if reminiscing about their glory days when men in fine suits and ladies in hoopskirts filled their lavish halls, and adventurous souls might torture their avid imaginations by playing games of hide-and-seek in the silent, cobweb-filled corridors and pretending ghosts inhabit these places, although their rational minds assure them they are only playing make-believe. Those who are more artistic, and perhaps a little more morbid, might wander into the cemetery (Mystic Falls is so small that it needs only one cemetery and the new headstones with their clear engravings are mixed in with the old headstones whose engraving has been worn down by weather and the passage of time) and read the names of the deceased and perhaps compose stories for themselves about who they were, how they lived, how they died, and who their descendants might be. Those adventurous ones who are, as they say, "history buffs," might find themselves at the Historical Society of Mystic Falls and pore over old books and family histories, thereby transporting themselves into a past era, when Model T's grumbled about the lanes and men wore bowler hats.

So, when all is said and done, Mystic Falls is old, beautiful, charming, and in all honesty, like small towns sometimes are, "unexciting." Nothing _significant _ever happens here.

But all of that is about to change. Because in fact Mystic Falls is the very _center_ of a supernatural war which has been going on for the last millennium, and the stirrings of revolution are once again beginning to throb in its cursed soil.

Of course, every revolution has a beginning, a catalyst. And the catalyst of this revolution, as is so often the case, was a tragedy, an act of senseless violence...

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A/N: _So, how did I do? Like it? Love it? Hate it? I would love to hear your thoughts on the prologue, as well as your ideas for future chapters. Constructive criticism is welcome._

_The 1st chapter should be up during the next two weeks, hopefully sooner. You can just follow this story or me to get updated instantly when I post the next chapter! _

_Au revoir, mes amis! _

_~Sabre _


	2. Chapter 1: Pilot: Horrible Starts

**Chapter 1: Pilot: Horrible Starts…**

_For over a century, I have lived in secret; hiding in the shadows, alone in the world. Until now. _

_-excerpt from an unidentified journal _

* * *

_**Mystic Falls, Virginia**_

The winding asphalt road through the woods on the edge of the town of Mystic Falls was deserted at this time of night, and Brooke was beginning to feel just a little sleepy. The steady hum of the car's engine beneath her sounded rather like a lullaby, the car radio was off, and her date didn't seem inclined to speak at the moment.

Letting her head slump against the window and shutting her eyes, Brooke half-wondered why Darren wasn't talking. Darren was _always_ talking; she'd told him on more than one occasion that he seemed _incapable_ of shutting up. But ever since they'd left the concert, Darren had been oddly silent, for once completely focused on driving the car rather than chattering nonstop, changing radio stations, and sometimes eating, all while he drove.

"Are you asleep?" Darren's voice suddenly pierced through the sleep-fogginess that was rapidly clouding Brooke's brain, and she opened her eyes and squinted at her date in the dim light. At the expression on his face, she woke a little more completely. Darren was usually cheerful, but right now he looked absolutely…_disappointed_. Worried, almost.

Quite awake now, Brooke sat up. "Nope," she replied. "Why?"

"Just asking," Darren replied, obviously lying, his eyes fixed on the road.

"No, seriously," Brooke frowned and leaned over to touch Darren's bicep, feeling the muscle tighten beneath his shirt. A little shiver went down her back. "What's wrong?"

Darren's jaw worked for a few moments before he let out a disgusted breath. Then, shooting sidelong glance at Brooke, he blurted, "An hour's drive to hear that crap! You know, it wasn't even a band. A guy with a guitar. An hour each way!"

Brooke chuckled. Darren was a music major in college, with a strong preference for classical and Baroque era pieces of music; therefore, he tended to be a _little _more critical of music than most. Brooke, on the other hand, was a psych major and didn't know crap about music. Maybe that was why she though the singer they'd gone to see had been…just fine. "He wasn't that bad," she replied, somewhat vaguely, half wondering if Darren was going to launch into a musical treatise about flats and sharps and all sort of other musical terms that sounded like Greek to her. Darren almost _never _missed a chance to talk about music.

"He sounded like James Blunt," Darren said disdainfully.

"What's wrong with that?" Brooke asked. She had a feeling that it wasn't just the bad music that had Darren so pissed off, but decided to wait to press the issue.

"We already have a James Blunt," Darren replied. "One's all we need."

Brooke snickered. "Okay, music boy. Now, would you like to tell me what actually has you pissed off? 'Cause it's more than just the James Blunt-esque music."

Darren was silent for a few moments. His brow furrowed and he blew out another breath before asking, "How did you know?"

_Trying to evade the question, are we? _ "Psych major, remember? I'm studying how to tell why people do things, the hidden meanings in people's body language, actions, and all that. You haven't been talking since we left the concert, and quite frankly you never shut up, except when you're listening to music, of course. I know something has to be wrong, and my instincts tell me it's more than the crappy music."

Looking over at his pretty date, Darren smiled wryly. She had him there, and they both knew it. "Well…" he said, removing his left hand from the steering wheel to clasp Brooke's hand where it rested beside her thigh "…this is, uh, our first date, and I kind of wanted it to be perfect. Instead we end up driving two hours to listen to bad music. I…" he cringed visibly, and tried to withdraw his hand from Brooke's, but she held on firmly, and smiled up at him.

"I liked our date, don't worry," Brooke winked at the dark-haired music major. She chuckled. "Darren, you know I can't tell the difference between mezzo forte and pianissimio –"

"Pianissimo," Darren correctly automatically, and then looked abashed.

"Pianissimo," Brooke repeated with a small grin. "I don't know crap about music, and quite frankly I though the guy sounded okay. And as for the travel time…" Brooke glanced out the window at the darkening woods and sighed contentedly, "well, I love long car rides, especially in the woods. And I don't mind the added bonus of being in the car with you for two whole hours," she said coyly.

Darren's face lit up at once, and he cracked a smile. "Okay then," he gave Brooke's hand a small squeeze before withdrawing it and putting it back on the steering wheel. "That's relieving. I _will _make our next date better though, I promise. Maybe a fancy Italian restaurant…"

Brooke laughed. "Sure. Don't get too expensive, though. I know you're still dealing with a little thing called _college fees…._"

"Yeah," Darren grimaced. "Oh, the problems that money, or the lack thereof, causes."

"Money trouble is eternal trouble," Brooke quipped, and then yawned, squinting out the windshield. "What's with all the fog?" she asked, frowning. "I don't remember ever seeing this much fog on this road before!"

"It'll clear in a second," Darren assured her, even as he frowned out the windshield at the great billows rolling across the road. Brooke felt shivers of fear prickle up her spine as she sat up straight in her seat. The fog was entirely _too _thick, and her instincts were screaming that something was wrong.

She saw the faint silhouette of the man lying on the road amidst the fog too late. "Watch out!" Brooke screamed, just as the car jerked and bumped as the tires rolled right over the man. Brooke cringed, already shaking with horror, as Darren slammed the brakes, bringing the car to an abrupt halt that threw Brooke forward before her seatbelt tightened and slammed her back against her seat.

Darren turned to her, his face dead white and his expression more serious than she had ever seen it. "Are you okay?"

Brooke could feel her hands shaking as by reflex she dug in the pockets of her jeans for her cell phone. "We just hit someone!" she cried, as visions of blood and gore and hospitals and a grieving family and lawsuits flashed through her mind. "Oh my god!"

"Call for help," Darren ordered as he unfastened his seatbelt and threw his car door open before sprinting back along the road.

The familiar numbers of her cell phone seemed strange and unfamiliar beneath her hands as Brooke frantically dialed 9-1-1 and put the phone to her ear. The phone didn't ring, and Brooke glanced at the screen to see if she had entered the correct numbers before putting it to her ear again, her mind already scrambling for what to say when the dispatch picked up. "Come on, come on!" she whispered frantically as she waited for the phone to ring…

Meanwhile, Darren had reached the motionless body of the man on the road. The fog had cleared a little, and Darren could see that the man was slender but well-built, clad in black jeans and a black leather jacket. He appeared unharmed, but was lying very still, face-down on the road.

A lump of fear rising in his throat, Darren knelt beside the man on the cold asphalt and frantically ran his hands over his shoulders. He knew basic CPR from his high school days as the school pool lifeguard, but common sense dictated that the injuries this man probably had were far too severe to be treated with simple CPR. "Please be alive," Darren whispered as he carefully tried to turn the man over.

As he began to roll the man over onto his side, the man's hand suddenly shot up with surprising speed and gripped his wrist. "Oh my god! I-" Darren yelped, but he never got to finish his sentence. The man rose to his feet with superhuman speed, dragging Darren along with him, and buried his teeth in his neck with a wet sound that sounded like flesh slapping on flesh.

Back in the car, Brooke was on the verge of tears. It was obvious that she was too far out in the woods for her cellphone to get a signal. Clenching her teeth, the blonde all but hurled her cellphone onto the dashboard as she threw open the door and staggered from the car on wobbly legs. "There's no signal!" she called in Darren's direction, her voice cracking.

There was no answer. "Darren?" Brooke asked, a paralyzing fear unlike anything she had ever felt suddenly flooding her body. "Darren!" Without thinking Brooke began to run back down the road, but she didn't make it more than a few yards from the car. A hand grabbed the back of her collar, another hand went over her mouth, and Brooke was slammed back against a solid chest. She struggled, clawing at the air, but the hand over her mouth jerked sharply to the side, there was a horrible crunching sound, and Brooke went limp.

* * *

_**Mystic Falls, Salvatore Boarding House **_

The young man, his light brown hair slightly ruffled by the wind, stood atop the lavish boarding house, his deep hazel eyes fixed on a point far away in the distance. "I shouldn't have come home," he mused to himself, in the voice of one who is halfheartedly trying to convince himself to do one thing while he knows that he is _determined_ to and _will_ do another. "I know the risk. But I had no choice. I have to know her." With a sigh, he jumped off the roof, landing with catlike grace on the grass below.

* * *

_**Mystic Falls, Gilbert House**_

_Dear diary, today will be different. It has to be. I will smile, and it will be believable. My smile will say "I'm fine, thank you." "Yes, I feel much better." I will no longer be the sad little girl who lost her parents. I will start fresh, be someone new. It's the only way I'll make it through._

With a sigh, Elena Gilbert nervously twirled her pen around in her fingers before shutting her journal and placing it inside her backpack. Today was a new day, a new start, a chance to put the tragic past behind her and move on, and yet…the heavy weight of sadness that had plagued her since she woke up in the ICU on May 24, 2009 hung heavier than usual.

_It shouldn't have been this way, _Elena thought as she pushed herself to her feet, picked up her backpack, and made her way to her bedroom door. _Mom should be here, her eyes sparkling as she bustles around getting Maddie and me and Jeremy ready for school. Dad should be here, telling Maddie to have a great senior year, and…_

_Stop. _Elena firmly cut off her train of thought. Those were exactly the kind of thoughts she did not need today. She should focus on what she DID have and how to make the future a better place, not linger and mourn over what she had lost. Wishing for the past would not bring her parents back, anyway. Squaring her shoulders, Elena opened her bedroom door.

As she reached the top of the stairs, the sound of soft piano music met her ears, and Elena smiled faintly as she paused to fully appreciate the music. Madison Gilbert had been an _excellent_ musician and singer for as long as Elena could remember, but over the summer she had become _amazing_. Just as Elena had turned to her diary to relive the pain and stress of her parents' deaths, Maddie had turned to her music, and Elena could clearly remember those long, horrible summer days when Maddie's butt seemed glued to the piano bench or her fingers to her guitar strings, filling the house with a constant stream of sad, haunting melodies. Music was the way Maddie cried.

Elena shook her head at those memories. For all the fine words she had written in her diary only minutes earlier, her resolution seemed to be crumbling at an alarming rate. Raising her chin, Elena strode downstairs like a drill sergeant.

Downstairs, in the sunny kitchen, Elena's Aunt Jenna seemed not to know quite what to do with herself. She was flitting around the room like a nervous butterfly, opening the refrigerator and peering in, then closing it, arranging dishes on the counter, and hovering over Jeremy, who sat slumped at the kitchen table, fidgeting as he picked at his cereal.

"Good morning, Aunt Jenna," Elena said in what she sincerely hoped was a cheerful voice. "What's for breakfast?"

At the sound of Elena's voice, Jenna seemed to try to calm herself. "Toast," she announced, bustling to the refrigerator and pulling out a loaf of bread. "I can make toast."

Elena laughed a little. The fact that Jenna wanted to make toast showed just how panicked she was; the Gilberts NEVER ate toast for breakfast. "It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna," Elena said gently, walking to the counter and opening the jar of instant coffee before rummaging in the drawer for a spoon. In the living room, Maddie's piano solo ended abruptly.

"Are you sure you don't want some toast?" Jenna asked, fiddling with the twist tie on bag of bread. "You should eat something."

"I'll have some fruit," Elena replied vaguely.

"Fruit won't stick to your ribs," Jenna protested.

Heels clicked on the hardwood floor behind Elena. "Elena stress starves, not stress eats," Maddie remarked as she walked to the fridge, her earrings swinging slightly.

"Mad_die," _Elena rolled her eyes as she scooped instant coffee into her cup.

Maddie rolled her eyes as she grabbed a bag of apples from the crisper and pulled out two. "At least stress starving is better for your figure."

Elena chuckled slightly and moved over a little as Maddie came up beside her to make herself a cup of coffee as well. "I think today will be a good day," Elena said encouragingly, smiling bravely at her sister.

The brunette flinched slightly as her sister stared down at her for a moment. At 5' 9", Maddie Gilbert was a good three inches taller than her sister, and the three-inch heels she was wearing today pushed her to a full six feet. "Of course," Maddie said finally, turning her attention to her cup of coffee.

A silence fell as both their thoughts traveled to distant places, quietly commemorating what they had lost.

Behind the two sisters, Jeremy stood up. "I'm out of here. James said he'd pick me up."

Elena frowned at her younger brother. "Since when do you go to school early?"

"Don't start," Jeremy growled, and left the kitchen. A few moments later the front door slammed.

Elena sighed. This morning was NOT getting off to an auspicious start.

At length, breakfast was finished, and Jenna began flitting around again. "Your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared," she fretted. "Lunch money? Did Jeremy get all his things before he left?"

"We're good," Elena assured, patting her wallet before placing it in her backpack. "And I'm sure Jeremy has everything he needs." She saw Maddie roll her eyes out of corner of her eye; they both knew that it was _highly _unlikely that Jeremy had everything he needed for school, but there was nothing they could do about that now.

"Anything else?" Jenna asked. "A number two pencil? What am I missing?"

Maddie glanced at the wall calendar, and then turned to her aunt with a slight smirk. "Oops," she said, leaning against the table, her hazel green eyes sparkling mischievously. "How's this for an answer: your big presentation is starting in one, two, three..."

Jenna's eyes widened. "I'm meeting with my thesis advisor…now! Crap!"

Elena made a hurrying motion with her hands. "Then go. We'll be fine."

"See you later!" Jenna called as she snatched her car keys from a hook on the kitchen wall and dashed for the door. A moment later, Elena heard the sound of a car engine starting, and through the kitchen window she saw Jenna's SUV charging down the road at a speed that was certainly at least ten mph above the speed limit on the quiet residential street.

"One speeding ticket coming up," Maddie remarked. She carried her backpack to the doorway and placed it next to the door before moving in front of the mirror beside the door and adjusting her dangling earrings. Elena recognized the signs that her sister was nervous. Unlike Elena, who got quiet and tight when she was nervous, Maddie began singing under her breath and/or moving around, tapping her fingers on tables and her heels on floors, or adjusting and readjusting her clothes and hair.

Elena sighed. "Bonnie will be here in about fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes?" Maddie spun to face her sister. "I almost forgot!"

"Almost forgot what?" Elena asked. Maddie didn't bother to answer, already bolting for the stairs as fast as she could in her three-inch heeled sandals. A few moments later she reappeared, the pink digital camera Jenna had given her for her eighteenth birthday in her hand.

"No," Elena began, but Maddie gave her a 'don't-argue-with-me-little-sister' look.

"Just keeping the tradition, _sister_," Maddie said in her 'I-am-the-olders-sister-and-therefore-you-must-obe y-me' voice. "Take pictures on the first day of school, _whether_ you look like crap or not."

Sighing, Elena complied, going to stand at the customary spot beside the door. She tried her best to smile as Maddie turned the camera on, which wasn't easy because all she could see was her parents' smiling faces on this very day exactly one year before, at the beginning of sophomore year. _Things were so simple then…_

"Your shirt's crooked," Maddie said as she focused the camera on her sister. "Move it to the right."

"You sound like Caroline," Elena grumbled as she adjusted her simple red long-sleeved top. "Do my jeans need to be pulled half a centimeter to the left and my converses retied as well?"

_"Purrfection_ is..."

"Just take the damn picture," Elena huffed.

Maddie complied, and Elena forced herself not to blink as the flash went off. Colorful spots danced in front of her eyes as Maddie rotated the camera to take a vertical shot. She snapped a few more shots, and then lowered the camera, apparently satisfied.

"Your turn," Elena said, holding out her hand for the camera.

Maddie handed the camera over, and went to take her spot next to the door. "Cheese," Elena said.

Maddie smiled, but Elena could see her own sadness reflected in her sister's eyes. She snapped a few pictures, and then held the camera out to her sister

Maddie accepted it, and turned towards the stairs just as a car pulled into the driveway

"That's Bonnie," Elena said unnecessarily.

Maddie picked up her backpack and purse and put her camera into her purse. "Mystic Falls High School, prepare for bad-ass forces of Maddie and Elena Gilbert."

* * *

**In Bonnie's Car **

"So Grams is telling me I'm psychic. Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that, I know, crazy, but she's going on and on about it, and I'm like, put this woman in a home already! But then I started thinking, I predicted Obama and I predicted Heath Ledger, and I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands. . .Elena!" Bonnie reached over and put a hand on her best friend's shoulder. "Back in the car."

Elena jumped, immediately feeling guilty. _Where did all those resolutions go? _She scolded herself. She had PROMISED herself she'd be better today, and yet here she was, drifting off into dreamland again. And while her best friend was talking, no less! "I did it again, didn't I?" she asked guiltily. "I-I'm sorry, Bonnie. You were telling me that. . ."

"…that her ancestors are from Salem and she's _psychic_, apparently," Maddie supplied, rather sarcastically, from the backseat.

"Exactly," Bonnie said. "Grams was telling me that I'm psychic now."

Elena took a deep breath. "Right. Okay, uhm, then…predict something. About me."

"Me too, please." Maddie said sweetly. Elena twisted around to look at Maddie, and saw that her sister actually looked interested…in a cynical kind of way. Maddie made a "perk up" gesture with her hands, and Elena felt abashed all over again. Why couldn't she hold herself together the way Maddie did? After all, Maddie WAS only a year older than her.

Meanwhile, Bonnie was frowning out the windshield, mouth twisted slightly to one side as she concentrated – or pretended to concentrate. "I see…"

Suddenly, a crow hit the windshield. Elena let out a half-scream, clapping her hand over her mouth, and Bonnie swerved the car then slammed the brakes, bringing the car to an abrupt halt on the side of the road. "What was that?!" she gasped. "Oh my god! Elena, are you okay?"

Elena pressed one hand to her chest, trying to calm her racing heart. "It's okay. I'm fine."

"It was like a bird or something," Bonnie said, peering out through the window. "It came out of nowhere."

"Crow, actually," Maddie said. Her voice was concerned as she reached over the back of Elena's seat to grasp her sister's shoulder. "Are you okay, Lena?"

"I'm fine," Elena insisted, giving Bonnie an apologetic look. "Really, I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life." She was horribly ashamed of it, but since the accident four months earlier, Elena hadn't been able to touch the steering wheel of a car, and she STILL disliked riding in cars intensely, even when with a driver as safe as Bonnie. Maddie had done most of the driving during the summer, and unless it was absolutely necessary, Elena had avoided going anywhere in cars. Now that the school year was starting, she couldn't hide from automobiles any longer, and she knew it was time to put that fear behind her. _Next week I'll start driving again_, she determined. _Even if it's only a little bit at a time. Baby steps. _

"Are you okay to go now?" Bonnie asked.

Elena raised her chin. "Yes. Good to go."

Bonnie pulled back onto the road, and the two incumbent juniors and one incumbent senior continued the drive to school in silence for a few moments. Then Bonnie cocked her head to one side. "I predict," she announced, "this year is going to be kick-ass. And I predict that all the sad and dark times are over and you two are going to be beyond happy."

Elena smiled. "That's a nice prediction. I hope it turns out to be true."

"This year _better_ kick ass," Maddie said from the backseat. "It's my senior year." Elena could hear the tinge of bitterness in her older sister's voice and felt a great pang of sadness for Maddie. Maddie had been so excited at the prospect of senior year, had been working her butt off for good grades all junior year (and had succeeded), and was so looking forward to make her parents and siblings proud of her during her final year of high school…and having lots of fun with her friends. But that was all gone now—Maddie's hopes for a great senior year had all been irrevocably crushed on May 23, 2009. But Bonnie seemed to have hope that things would turn out okay, and Elena prayed it did.

There was, of course, also the possibility that Bonnie was just telling her what she wanted to hear, what she knew Elena _hoped_ for but knew wasn't exactly likely. But, where would she be if she _didn't _hope that things would get better, that this year would be a good one? She'd stay stuck in the rut of her grief. If she wanted to heal and move on, she had to hope and work to make those hopes come true.

As it would turn out, the sad and dark times were anything BUT over. In fact, in a sense, they were only _just_ beginning.

Atop a sign near where Bonnie had stopped the car, the black crow stared off into the horizon as if in deep thought.

* * *

_**Inside Mystic Falls High School**_

Bonnie sighed almost dejectedly as she glanced around the familiar white halls of Mystic Falls High School. The place hadn't changed much since they'd all been in here three months earlier, still the same stereotypical American high school filled with teenagers of all races, shapes, and sizes, lugging backpacks, bustling about, calling out to close friends they'd hung out with all summer and friends they hadn't seen all summer, or skulking about corners with their hands in their pockets. New freshmen crowded the halls, some shuffling shyly and looking with a kind of terror at the upperclassmen while others quickly sought out friendly sophomores to talk to. Seniors strode about, reveling in their superiority, while sophomores and juniors enjoyed whatever prestige came with their middle status.

Bonnie wrinkled her nose. No hot guys in sight. "Major lack of male real estate," Bonnie remarked. "Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech. She looks like a hot — can I still say "tranny mess"?"

Elena shook her head. "No, that's over."

Bonnie shrugged, unperturbed. "Ahh, find a man, coin a phrase. It's going to be a busy year."

Maddie pointed both her pointer fingers at Bonnie. "How's this for a phrase: 'enjoy my superiority as a senior'?" Maddie asked, a little cattily, and Elena rolled her eyes affectionately. Maddie actually wasn't one to look down on lowerclassmen—most of the time.

"Thinking of finding a hot boyfriend for senior year?" Bonnie asked, ignoring Maddie's statement.

Maddie shook her head, smiling impishly. "I am _so _done with guys...for now." She paused, glancing around the hall. "Speaking of guys, Elena," she leaned close to her sister to whisper slyly, "I see your ex-boyfriend."

_Oh, crap. Trust Maddie to mention THAT. _Elena thought. As discretely as possibly, Elena glanced around the hall for Matt Donovan, and sure enough, there he was, at the opposite end of the hall, pulling books from his locker. He caught her eye for a second before turning away resolutely and walking off in the opposite direction. Elena sighed. "He hates me."

Bonnie shook her head. "That's not hate. That's "you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits."

"Hope he's not listening to Evanescence and Within Temptation," Maddie said.

"Why not?" Elena asked.

"Cause that would indicate 'I'm-keeping-a-rope-in-my-bathroom-closet type heartbreak' not just 'I'm-bummed-my-hot-girlfriend-broke-up-with-me' heartbreak," Maddie replied, smirking, making air quotes with her slender fingers.

"Maddie!" Caroline Forbes's shout brought approximately a third of the students in the hallway to attention as the blonde shouldered her way amongst the crowd to the Gilbert sisters and Bonnie. "Oh my stars!"

Elena stepped back as Caroline all but barreled into Maddie, wrapping her arms around the brunette's body and squeezing with suffocating force. Almost before Maddie could fully get her arms around her best friend, Caroline pulled back, her hands on Maddie's shoulders, eyes searching her face. "You're here. How are you? Oh, it's so good to see you! I almost can't believe you're here!"

Elena and Bonnie exchanged half-exasperated looks. Caroline Forbes was both smart and caring, but sometimes her care got a little…overbearing.

"Fine, Care," Maddie replied with a small eyeroll. "Can't skip the first day of senior year, can I?"

"Well, you know, with everything that's happened…" Caroline linked arms with Maddie and leaned back against the lockers. "…I guess, I just wasn't sure!"

"Trust me, I wouldn't miss the first day of school as an _exalted_ senior for _anything_," Maddie said, her tone more than just a little sarcastic. "Not even an earthquake."

"That's the attitude," Caroline said enthusiastically. "Be positive! Oh, and that dress looks beyond hot on you! I knew the pink would be great with your dark hair." She seemed to suddenly notice Elena and detached herself from Maddie to hug the other Gilbert. "Elena! I haven't seen you in forever! How are you? Are you good?"

"I'm fine," Elena smiled, hugging Caroline back, if not with as much enthusiasm. "I'm doing much better."

"Really?" Caroline asked. "You poor thing." She hugged her again, and Elena grimaced over the blonde's shoulder at her older sister, who only shrugged.

"Really, I'm fine, Caroline," Elena insisted when the blonde pulled back at last.

"Well, I'm glad to hear it!" Caroline turned back to Maddie. "I'd come with you-but I have to talk to the athletic director about the cheerleading tryouts, and I have to get started on the stuff for the community service event this weekend, and the luncheon for the teachers next week, and so I can't come with you right now. Can we meet up later?"

"Sure, Caroline," Maddie laughed. "You're like a whirligig, doing so many things at once. See you around."

"Bye," Caroline waved, and dashed off down the hall.

"Yo, Maddie!" a guy whom Elena recognized as the dude who had had a ginormous crush on Maddie during the latter half of her junior year (and probably still did) and had tried to win her affections—unsuccessfully—by buying her overpriced flowers and texting her constantly, called from across the hall. He swaggered closer as the girls looked up, winking at Maddie. "Still hanging out with juniors?"

"I _was_ a junior last year, _moron_," Maddie called back, obviously disgusted. She turned to Elena and Bonnie, "Come on girls, let's go. I can't _breathe_ with that asshole around."

* * *

"_**Stoner Pit" Outside Mystic Falls High School**_

Jeremy extended the small transparent orange container of white pills to Vicki Donovan on the palm of his hand. "Don't take more than two in a six-hour window," he cautioned.

Vicki all but snatched the pills out of Jeremy's hand and stuffed them into the pocket of her denim jacket, just as an average-height, well-built boy with tanned skin and black hair came striding towards them. "Hey Vicki," he called, and Vicki swiftly turned away from Jeremy towards Tyler, her expression half-defiant and half-affectionate.

"I knew I'd find you here with the crackheads," Tyler spoke disdainfully, coming up beside Vicki.

Vicki's features tightened, and her fist closed more tightly around the pills in her pocket. "Hey."

Tyler turned to Jeremy, sneering. "Hey, Pete Wentz called. He wants his nail polish back."

Jeremy looked at Tyler with disgust. "Pete Wentz, huh?" Jeremy spat back with venom. "How old school T.R.L. of you. Carson Daly fan?"

Vicki placed a calming hand on Tyler's arm before the muscular football player could punch Jeremy in the face. "Oh, Ty, be nice," she admonished. "That's Maddie and Elena's little brother."

"I know who he is," Tyler said scornfully, as if the object of his sentence was not standing a few feet away from him. "I'll still kick his ass."

Vicki gave Jeremy a look that said _Go. Go, before he gets mad and it gets ugly. _Jeremy clenched his jaw. He wanted nothing more than to pound his fists into this arrogant son of a bitch's face. Who did Tyler think he was? The jack-ass acted as if he owned Mystic Falls, just because his dad was the Mayor and he was the star of the football team. But, Jeremy knew when he couldn't win a fight, and besides, his sisters would have his head _and_ his ass if he got into a fight on the very first day of school. They were already on high alert because of his…habits, and the last thing he needed was them lecturing him and fussing over him. Sometimes, he wondered if he had been cursed to have _two older_ sisters. It was nice most of the time, and it could be _great _sometimes, especially when his birthday or Christmas rolled around, but other times it was, quite literally, suffocating. Back when his mother was alive, it was like he had _three_ mothers whenever he got into trouble.

_Back when his mother was alive…_Jeremy tried to push that thought away, but it held on tight, and he braced himself for the waves of pain that would follow.

It was pointless to stay here. Jeremy shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away stiffly, feeling Tyler's triumphant gaze and Vicki's conflicted one on his back.

Crap, he needed some pills right now. Luckily he had just replenished his stash.

* * *

_**Outside the Secretary's Office, Inside Mystic Falls High School **_

"Hold up," Bonnie said as she, Maddie, and Elena walked towards the secretary's office. "Who's this?"

Elena looked into the office from a few feet behind the open doorway. There was a tall young man with wavy light brown hair, wearing a black leather jacket and dark blue jeans, standing in front of the desk, obscuring the secretary from view. "All I see is back."

"It's a hot back," Bonnie proclaimed.

Maddie rolled her eyes at the junior. "Sensing tidings of hot boy?" she asked snarkily.

_Inside the office _

The secretary looked through the few white papers on her desk, and then back up at the young man. "Your records are incomplete. You're missing immunization records, and we do insist on transcripts." She said firmly. The implications of her words were clear. _Admission denied. _

The young man removed his dark sunglasses and made direct eye contact with the secretary. "Please look again," he said quietly. "I'm sure everything you need is there."

The secretary's pupils dilated for a moment before she looked down at the papers again. "Well, you're right," she replied agreeably. "So it is."

_Outside the office _

"I'm sensing Seattle," Bonnie said, eyes still fixed on the brown-haired young man. "…and he plays guitar. Like Maddie."

Maddie rolled her eyes again, and Elena laughed. "You're really going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?"

"Pre-tty much," the dark-skinned girl replied, nodding, not looking at Elena. "Please be hot," she said to the back of the young man.

Maddie huffed and turned around to scan the hallway behind her. _This psychic thing Bonnie's digging is _ridiculous, she thought. He eyes narrowed as she spotted Jeremy, huddled next to the wall with another boy a few feet from the entrance to the men's restroom. The hall was full of conversation, but Maddie was a musician, and her sharp ears caught the words, "…good batch, man." The next instant, Jeremy spun away from the other boy and rushed into the men's room.

_DAMN it! _Maddie grabbed Elena's arm, anger and concern churning in her stomach. "Elena, come with me, _now_," she ordered, and pulled her sister with her towards the men's room. Elena glanced back at Bonnie for a moment as Maddie dragged her away, and then leaned her head close to her sister's. "What's wrong?"

"I just saw Jeremy going into the men's room," Maddie hissed back. "He's going to get stoned."

Maddie could feel her sister cringing beside her as she boldly pushed the door of the men's restroom inward and marched in. _Why the EFF can't little brother see he's just destroying himself?_

As it was, Maddie wasn't quite right in her prediction. Jeremy wasn't _getting _stoned; he was _already _stoned. He was standing at the counter, holding a container of eye drops, which, when applied, would help to conceal his stoned state from others...like his teachers. Before Maddie could start to yell at her brother, however, one of the bathroom stalls slammed open and a dude swaggered out. She felt her sister yelp quietly behind her as the guy's eyes widened. He got over his shock at seeing two girls in the guy's room very quickly, however, and leered at the two girls, visibly checking them out. "Pants down, chicks," he sneered.

"Get your ass out of here," Maddie sneered, automatically moving protectively in front of Elena to shield her from the boy's eyes. _  
_

"Feisty. I _like_," the boy smirked. Still leering, he pushed past the girls and left the restrooms—without washing his hands.

Maddie grimaced, then stormed over to her brother, grabbed his chin with her hand and looked him in the eyes. "Somebody _slept_ in health class when they talked about drug abuse, or, more likely, _conveniently_ forgot everything he learned," she snapped. "7:45 a.m. in the morning, first day of school, and you're _stoned_."

Jeremy glared at his older sister. "No, I'm not," he said defiantly.

"Where's the rest of it?" Elena demanded, coming up beside her brother and feeling his jacket pockets. "Is it on you?"

Jeremy tore his chin out of Maddie's grip and jerked away from Elena angrily. "Stop, all right?! You need to chill yourself, all right?"

"Chill myself? Great," Maddie threw up her hands in exasperation, her hazel-green eyes flashing. "You're talking stoner talk now—oh wait, I forgot, you ARE a stoner!" She clenched her fists at her side. "Dude, you are _so_ cool," she mocked.

"Look, stop! I don't have anything on me. Are you crazy?" Jeremy snapped, his eyes darting between his sisters' faces.

"Crazy? Who's crazy?" Maddie asked incredulously. She shook her head. "Are you really THAT high?"

"You haven't seen crazy, Jeremy!" Elena said, her eyes boring into her brother's. "We gave you a summer pass, but we are done watching you destroy yourself." She looked to her sister, and Maddie nodded firmly.

Maddie tapped her fingernails on the counter, lips tight. "Ultimately, Jeremy, we can't stop you from doing what you want," she said, her voice glacial. "But I'll be there—we'll both be there, interrupting your little get-high sessions, finding and destroying your damn drugs, and doing all we can to get you to stop, _until_ you decide to quit. Or, until the professionals get involved. You know what rehab and juvie are, right?"

Elena sighed. "Jeremy, I know who you are," she said, placing a hand on her brother's arm. "And it's not this person. So don't be this person."

Jeremy looked back and forth between his sisters' faces, and for a moment he seemed on the verge of tears, but then his jaw hardened. "I don't need this," he muttered before shoving past Maddie and making for the door.

After the door slammed after Jeremy, Elena pressed the palms of her hands to her forehead. "I feel like we're losing him," she whispered. "I know he's in so much pain, but I wish he would find a less self-destructive way of channeling it. I'd hoped he would turn to his art the way you and me turned to music and writing, but instead…"

"…he's taken the road of loading himself up with chemicals," Maddie finished, voice icy.

Just then, the door swung open, and the young man they'd seen inside the secretary's office walked in. He was indeed hot, with a chiseled face and piercing hazel eyes. Maddie saw her younger sister's face redden, but she was far too angry to be embarrassed.

The young man was the first to break the silence. "Uh, pardon me," he said. "Um…is this the men's room?"

"Yeah," Maddie said, half-shrugging. "The little sign on the door was…right. Excuse us." She began to walk towards the door.

The young man nodded, and courteously pulled the door open for them. "Why, thank you," Maddie said, realizing the terrible irony of a man holding the door open for two girls to exit the men's restroom.

"Well, that was awkward," Elena sighed as they began walking down the hall.

"Yeah. Hot guy plus chicks in bathroom equals...awkward," Maddie smirked, then glanced at her watch. "Oops, almost time for class. What do you have first period, Lena?"

"History with Mr. Tanner," Elena replied, and Maddie grimaced. The man taught both sophomore and junior AP history classes, and both Maddie and Elena had been AP for their history courses all during high school. Mr. Tanner was a good teacher, as in he got his students to absorb what he taught, but the guy was an asshole. Maddie had had him for two years, and Elena one, and Maddie felt sorry for Elena that she still had an entire year of the douche bag left to endure.

"Give Tanner my love," Maddie said with false sweetness.

"Will do...not," Elena sighed, obviously not looking forward to going to class. "What do you have?"

"Calculus BC," Maddie replied, just as the bell rang. "Good luck, little sister," she called to her sister as Elena took off down the hall.

"Thanks!" Elena managed to call over her shoulder before she was lost in the crowd.

Sighing, Maddie hefted her backpack higher on her shoulder and headed for the second floor to find her classroom. Her brother was stoned, her sister had Mr. Tanner FIRST period of the first day of her junior year and had been caught by a hot guy in the guy's restroom, a guy had told her and her sister to pull down their pants while in aforementioned restroom…

...senior year was getting off to a horrible start.

* * *

A/N:_ First off, a HUGE thank-you to all who have followed, favorited, reviewed, or even just viewed. Your support means the world to me!If you have the time, please review! - I would love to know what you think of my writing style, the premise of the story (Elena having an older sister), and what you think of Maddie herself. Constructive criticism is very welcome-Does my writing seem choppy? Does Maddie seem like a Katherine rip-off, a bitch, a Mary Sue, etc. As this story's cover image suggests, I imagine Madison to look like Phoebe Tonkin. Yes, I know...she plays Hayley in the TV show, **cringe** but this IS AU...and Phoebe's look fits what Maddie's like, at least in my head. Stickler fans will notice that I made Maddi 5'9" while Phoebe's actually 5'10", but...I'm going to cop out with the AU excuse again. _

_I'll be breaking the episodes up into smaller chapters because whole episodes, when written out, usually end up being over 15 000 words and I want the chapters to be...readable. At this point I'm still following the basic storyline, but things will begin to change because of Maddie's inclusion. One of the most major changes I made to this part of 'Pilot' was fleshing Darren and Brooke out. In the original episode their conversation was much shorter and we got to see them alive for only a few moments. I tried to make them more 'human,' -give them feelings and lives so that their brutal, tragic deaths would be a little more...disturbing. That's something I would like feedback on-did my 'fleshing out' of Darren and Brooke feel 'real'? Did their conversation seem forced, or was it believable? _

_Some of you who looked at this story earlier may notice that I've changed the premise of the story-it started out as a 'Gilbert Twin' story, but I changed it. Frankly, there is a lot of fanfiction out there in which Elena has a twin (identical or fraternal) and I didn't see too many original ideas or twists I could put on that story. BTW-if you want to read a really good 'Gilbert Twin' story, I highly recommend SunThorn19's story 'Sydney Gilbert.' It's hilarious, it's bad-ass, and overall just a good read. I also recommend her story 'It All Started With Those Damn Red Boots,' which is one of the best Damon/OC stories out there. _

_Au revoir!_

_~Sabre _


	3. Chapter 2 : Pilot : Move On And

**Chapter 2: _Pilot: Move On And..._**

_"We have to move on, get our lives back."_

_-excerpt from Elena Gilbert's journal, written a week before school started _

* * *

_**Mystic Falls High School, Mr. William Tanner's First-Period History Class **_

Dark-haired history teacher Mr. William Tanner paced back and forth along the width of the classroom as he lectured. "Once our home state of Virginia joined the Confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's northwest region had different ideals than those from the traditional Deep South. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the Union."

Elena fought back a sigh as Mr. Tanner talked on. She liked history well enough, but, much like Maddie, she did NOT like Mr. Tanner. The man had a temperament too similar to that of a shark's for her liking, constantly looking for "blood in the water," which in his case was students who couldn't answer his questions. He loved to humiliate the less apt students by asking them questions they could not answer, and Elena felt as if he was keeping a close watch on her, waiting for a time to pounce on the girl whom everyone thought must still be in the throes of grief. Just knowing that made her feel cranky and annoyed.

Fighting boredom, the brunette wriggled in her seat, discretely glancing over her shoulder in Bonnie's direction. The guy she and Maddie had met in the men's restroom was sitting only a little ways from her, and as she turned she met his eyes. Elena felt her face flame again as his intense hazel gaze bored into her own and turned back to face the front. _He's probably still thinking about our "meeting" in the restroom_. She thought. What kind of person did he think she was? She wondered. Did he think she and Maddie were sluts who gave blowjobs in the men's restroom or something equally repulsive?

Just then, Elena's phone vibrated in her jacket pocket with a text message. Slowly, so as not to draw attention to herself, she slid her hand into her pocket, withdrew the phone, and checked her text messages. The text was from Bonnie. _HAWT-E. STARING AT U._

Elena couldn't help herself. She peeked over her shoulder at "HAWT-E." Sure enough, he was staring directly at her. _Probably thinking I'm a whore._

"Miss Gilbert, are you paying attention?" Mr. Tanner asked, and Elena cringed as everyone in the classroom looked at her with varying expressions.

Elena felt her face heating and looked down at her desk submissively. "Yes, Mr. Tanner," she said meekly.

Mr. Tanner looked at her for a moment, a gleam in his eye, before apparently deciding he couldn't impugn her further. "See that you do," he said, and went back to teaching.

Elena fought down a sigh. This was going to be a _long _class.

* * *

_**Fifth Period **_

Maddie walked slowly, the clacking sound her heeled sandals made on the shiny linoleum floor unusually loud in her sharp ears, doing her best to calm the butterflies in her stomach as she approached Mr. Amadeo Ricci's office. Amadeo Ricci was the Music Director of Mystic Falls High School, in charge of overseeing and approving all music-related events MFHS put on; he also personally taught advanced music classes, one of which Maddie was enrolled in. Maddie had loved music for as long as she could remember, and Mr. Ricci had been one of the very first teachers at MFHS she'd truly bonded with. He wasn't just her teacher or her mentor, he was her friend…probably the best adult friend she had, come to think of it. Four months ago she wouldn't have been trying to (unsuccessfully) tiptoe down the hall to his office; she probably would have been running, excited to tell him about a new piece of music she had just discovered or a new idea she had for a performance, secure in the knowledge that he would make the time to listen to her, no matter how busy he might be. But it was very different now, and Maddie actually felt extremely nervous as she approached his office.

She had not had much, no, any, contact with Mr. Ricci over the summer.

Maddie had sang and played in the Mystic Falls High School Band since her freshman year of high school, and had been active in all sorts of other music events since elementary school, but this past summer she hadn't had the heart to participate in any of her normal musical activities. She'd abruptly dropped out of the Mystic Falls High School Band, sending Mr. Ricci only a brief e-mail to inform him of her resignation–days before a major performance. To his credit, Mr. Ricci had been more than kind, telling her he understood she was not in an emotional position to play at the moment and politely asking her if she ever intended to return, because he hoped he did. Maddie had seen the e-mail, but she hadn't bothered to reply. A few days after he e-mailed her he'd called her on the phone, asking her to call him back, but she hadn't. He'd called her twice after that, and each time Maddie hadn't responded.

She'd cut herself off from all her other music events just as abruptly—she didn't play in the summer Mystic Falls Park Concerts and rarely even bothered to show her face at the events, she didn't come to watch the marching band practice, she didn't go to the Mystic Grill and sing and play just for the fun of it anymore. She dodged texts and e-mails from her music-inclined friends, letting most of her friendships fall quietly by the wayside.

But Maddie was _done _ being 'sad Maddie'. She was _sick_ of being sad and bitchy. Life wasn't going to wait for her to get over her parents' deaths, she had to kick her own butt and grab hold of life again, re-center herself and jump back into things. After all, this _was _her freaking _senior year_, and, to borrow the words of a certain "psychic," it _needed_ to _kick ass_.

Life had dealt her a bad hand, but Maddie had decided she was going to twist Life's arm and _make _ it give her something good. She was going to take the lemons life had thrown in her face and make lemonade, and then throw that lemonade back in life's face …or better yet, make grape juice and then laugh while the rest of the world wondered how she'd done it.

And Maddie figured there was no better way to start moving on than to fling herself headfirst back into things_. No better way to learn to swim than just jump in, right?_ She reasoned.

So that was how, during her after-lunch free period, Maddie found herself walking towards Mr. Ricci's office, fighting the churning in her stomach. She had been unresponsive and ungracious to the man who had been one of her closest friends, and Maddie wondered if the memories of the camaderie she and Mr. Ricci had once shared would be able to help mend their broken friendship. It was painful to her pride, but she knew that before she could hope for that to happen, however, she had to apologize. And mean it. Mr. Ricci was not one for "obligatory apologies."

Standing in front of Mr. Ricci's office door, Maddie took a deep breath. _Here goes nothing. _Raising her hand, she rapped her knuckles on the door and waited.

"Come in," the familiar voice from inside called, and Maddie's heart twisted in her chest. There had been a time when she would not have needed to knock before he told her to come in; being a musician, Mr. Ricci had very sharp ears and had learned to identify the sound of her footsteps—no matter what type of shoes she was wearing—with perfect accuracy. Deep down inside Maddie wondered if he still remembered the sound of her footsteps. She braced herself for a split second, then with a quick flick of her wrist twisted the doorknob and flung the door open.

Mr. Ricci looked up as the door opened, and his eyes showed no surprise. So he _did _still know the sound of her footsteps, apparently, even though he hadn't heard them in months. Maddie hesitated in the doorway, and Mr. Ricci pushed some papers which he had obviously been working on over to the side. "Madison Gilbert," he said formally. "Come in, please. Make yourself comfortable, please," he waved towards one of the plush chairs in front of his desk.

Maddie crossed the threshold and shut the door behind her. "Hi, Mr. Ricci."

"Hello, Madison," he replied, and stopped.

Maddie grimaced inwardly. _Talk about awkward. _Feeling rather as if she was walking towards a jury, she crossed the room to his desk and perched on the edge of one of the plush chairs facing his desk. She realized the chairs were the same ones that had been there when she'd been in this office last, and fought down a slew of bittersweet memories. For a moment she focused on the painting of a violinist on the wall past Mr. Ricci's head. How should she begin this conversation?

As it was, she didn't have to; Mr. Ricci took the initiative. "It's good to see you back, Madison," he said, and Maddie cringed inwardly again. Five months ago Mr. Ricci would never have called her "Madison"; she was always "Maddie" to him, sometimes even _uccellino_ –"little bird" in Italian, because she loved to sing. The very fact that he was referring to her by her full name was an indication of how very broken their friendship was. _Damn, I have a lot to try to fix. _That little unanswered e-mail, and those three unanswered phone calls were truly coming back to bite her…right in the ass where it hurt.

Mr. Ricci continued. "I offer my sincerest condolences on your parents' deaths," he said, and even though his voice was cool and removed, she could see the sincerity in his dark brown eyes. He paused for a moment, and then continued. "What brings you to my office today?"

Maddie pressed the callused tips of her fingers together in her lap and tipped her head to one side. "I wanted to…talk to you?" It came out sounding like a question, and Maddie mentally kicked herself. She hated sounding unsure of herself or unconfident—it was one of the reasons she hated making apologies like the one she knew she owed Mr. Ricci.

Mr. Ricci simply raised one black eyebrow. He was not a believer in prying either apologies or confessions out of anyone, Maddie knew; in his opinion, if someone had to be pressed to fess or apologize, it wasn't genuine and not worth the time he spent listening. _It has to be from the heart,_ he'd told her once. Lucky thing she was genuine, no matter how much she might suck at this apology thing.

"I wanted to talk…I didn't reply your e-mail and phone calls months ago, and I…miss you." Maddie paused, gathering courage to continue. This apology was long overdue, she knew; it had NOT been right for her to cut Mr. Ricci out of her life, not after he'd been there for her, had been her _friend _in a way a teacher didn't owe to his student, for three whole years. Yes, she'd been grieving, but pushing people who cared about her was away was NOT the way to deal with pain. Her mother would have been embarrassed by her coldness to her friends over the summer. Maddie started to stare past Mr. Ricci's head again, then changed tactics and met his dark brown eyes with her own hazel green ones. "I was…miserable, but it wasn't right for me to just cut you out of my life like I did. It was rude and bitchy and unfair to you and…"

"In all honesty, I felt more hurt than angry that you would just cut me off like that," Mr. Ricci interrupted, just as Maddie's apology began to gain steam. "I thought that our…friendship, the camaderie we shared, was stronger than that. That you would allow me to be there for you in your pain."

Maddie's face burned. All Mr. Ricci had wanted was to help her, and what had she done? Ignored him and refused to talk to him. Common courtesy required that you answer e-mails and phone calls, she hadn't had enough decency to do that to one of her closest friends. "You were my friend, mentor," she said. "I was beyond dumb to shut you out of my life. I came to say…I'm sorry."

Her stomach gave a final flip, and then Maddie couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of relief. _There, it's over. I apologized. Now…it's up to you. Sort of, _she thought. Mr. Ricci's dark gaze grew a little too intense for her comfort, and she broke the eye contact, staring down at her short, neatly-filed nails in her lap instead. While Maddie was girly in practically every aspect of her life, she never bothered to do much with her nails except polish them occasionally for special occasions. As a guitarist, it didn't make any sense for her to keep long fingernails, and polish would just chip off. Her fingers, while long and elegant, were callused on the fingertips from pressing guitar strings and running over piano keys. Mr. Ricci used to call them "musician's hands," she remembered, and he would playfully check her calluses whenever she tried to weasel more attention out of him by saying she had practiced a lot.

At last, Mr. Ricci broke the silence. "Why did you do it?" he asked, and she could hear the undercurrent of hurt in his voice. "Was there something about my presence that made the pain of losing your parents worse?"

Maddie raised her eyes from her lap, feeling conflicted. He was right; the sight of all her friends had been reminders of what she had lost; it was one of the reasons why she had been so ready to shove them out of her life. "Yes," she admitted. "Whenever I saw you it was like being reminded all over again of all the things I'd lost, and I didn't want that. I figured it would just be easier to avoid you entirely…but now it's…different."

"Madison, I would've preferred you just told me this, even though that is asking a bit much. I would have respected your wishes and maintained my distance."

Maddie flinched. What he was saying was true, and it stung. "I know. That's why I came to…apologize. I didn't treat you like the friend you were to me. It wasn't fair to you."

Mr. Ricci leaned back in his chair and tipped his chin down slightly. "In all honesty, I already forgave you for leaving me out of your life a long time ago, Maddie," he said, and Maddie felt her heart lift a little as he slipped back into calling her by her more-frequently used nickname. "I was simply hoping that _you _would become interested in rekindling our friendship. If you want to be my student again, I am more than willing to have you back."

Maddie couldn't help but smile, a weight lifting off her chest. Mr. Ricci didn't take crap apologies, but if an apology was genuine, he had a _total _ "forgive and forget" mentality, something for which Maddie was beyond grateful right now. She was suddenly tempted to get up, walk around his desk, and throw her arms around him—but she knew it was still a little too soon for that. This was the first time she was _really _talking to him in over three months, after all. "I'm already your student, kind of," Maddie replied. "I'm in one of your advanced music classes."

Mr. Ricci smiled at her, and Maddie's spirits lifted further. "I saw you on the roster, and I have to admit I was quite pleased to see you still had interest in music, and perhaps in learning music from me." She heard the connotation in the final clause of his sentence, and the corner of her mouth curled. There definitely _was_ hope for their friendship yet. Maybe she hadn't ruined things as totally as she thought she had.

"You're the best music teacher ever," Maddie replied, a little coyly. "Why would I want to miss out on the opportunity to learn from you?"

Mr. Ricci snorted. Maddie knew he wouldn't misconstrue her gushing as flattery—he knew she was just trying to tell him she still appreciated him and wanted to be his friend in her idiosyncratic "Maddie way." "I'm no Mozart," he deadpanned, "but I try."

Maddie snickered a little. She and a few of his other students used to tease him about being a reincarnation of Mozart because his first name was "Amadeo," the Italian version of "Amadeus," Mozart's middle name. "Nobody's Mozart," she replied, shrugging. She knew her history; Mozart had been such a genius it was actually kind of freaky. "I still think one of these days we're going to find out Mozart was actually on crack or some mind-stimulating drugs, or he bribed people to write music in his name. I mean, who writes operas when they're eight?"

"A great genius," Mr. Ricci acknowledged, nodding. He leaned forward, folding his hands together on his desk. "I have to ask…have you paid any attention to music at all this past summer?"

Maddie nodded. She might have been guilty of neglecting and ruining friendships and such during the summer, but neglected her music she had not. She'd played every day, sometimes all day. "I've paid a _lot _ of attention to my music. I played the piano and my guitar all the time, even recorder sometime when I got bored. And I sang, a lot. I experimented with different music and even composed some of my own stuff."

Mr. Ricci's eyes lit up at her last sentence. Maddie had always played, but she'd never really tried writing any of her own music except for small variations on established pieces until the past summer. He'd often encouraged her to try composing, but Maddie had never felt inspired to really do so. "You began composing?" he asked excitedly.

"Yes," Maddie replied with a little curl of her lips. "Don't expect an opera," she said quickly, pointing her finger at him as Mr. Ricci's eyes lit up further, "or a concerto. I'm…"

"Whatever," Mr. Ricci said, waving his hand dismissively. "What instrument did you write them for?"

"Some piano, some guitar, some for both."

"Well, I am definitely going to make the time to hear the music you composed," Mr. Ricci said decisively. "That is, if you do not object to playing your song for me?"

Maddie nodded firmly. She was willing to do almost anything to get her friendship with Mr. Ricci back, and she'd been longing to analyze her songs with somebody who appreciated music. Elena had listened to all her songs and offered compliments, but her musical experience was limited to what was, in Maddie's opinion, some very half-assed flute playing, and she just didn't _get _music the way Maddie did, much the way Maddie didn't see the point of spending hours scribbling in a journal. Mr. Ricci was the sounding board she had been missing, and she was more than willing to play her music for him, even the crappiest songs. "Sure. I'll find time."

Mr. Ricci smiled at her, and Maddie's spirits lifted further. "Very well then. I'll be looking forward to it, and," he checked his schedule, "I'll see in you class next period."

"See you in a couple minutes, then," Maddie rose and walked to the door before turning back, her face warming again. "Thank you. For everything." She felt she didn't need to specify what exactly; he knew she was more than grateful for him still wanting to be her friend after what a brat she'd been to him.

Mr. Ricci simply nodded, and Maddie opened the door and went out into the hall. She felt significantly lighter as she began making her way to her music class, figuring it would hurt if she got to the classroom early. Mr. Ricci was still her friend, in spite of all the crap that had gone down during the summer. Maybe, just maybe, senior year _would _end up kicking ass instead of sucking ass.

* * *

_**Mystic Falls Cemetery **_

Wrapping her coat tighter around herself, Elena walked into the Mystic Falls Cemetery with her head bowed, eyes fixed on the ground.

Mystic Falls was so small that it required only one cemetery, and Elena had loved coming here for as long as she could remember. She and her mother used to take walks here, reading the names and dates on the headstones and talking about who the deceased had been. Elena had found that the cemetery held lots of inspiration for her as an aspiring writer, and Maddie used to tease her by calling her "Graveyard Girl" because of the inordinate amount of time she spent in the cemetery.

Since her parents' deaths, Elena's visits to the cemetery had become much more frequent, but all the joy of walking along the quiet paths among the headstones had evaporated. Now she came here to visit with her Dad and Mom in the only tangible way she knew how, and her visits were always heavy with sadness. Maddie too, had become a "Graveyard Girl" and Elena knew she often carried her guitar here and played over her parents' graves—and talked to them, much the same way Elena carried her journal here and sometimes wrote long, agonized letters to her deceased parents that she knew they would never read.

When she reached her parents' grave, Elena stopped to stare at their names carved into the cold stone for a few moments before sitting down on the grass with her back against the headstone. Retrieving her journal from inside her backpack, she opened it, took out her pen, and began to write.

_Dear diary, I made it through the day. I must have said, "I'm fine, thanks," at least thirty-seven times. And I didn't mean it once. But no one noticed. When someone asks, "How are you?" they really don't want an answer. Sometimes, I wish I had Maddie's ability to make people go away and leave me alone with just one look. _

Feeling the black depression rising once more, Elena shut her diary, closed her eyes, and tipped her head back to let the sun's rays warm her face. _Be positive! _she scolded herself.

Elena heard the sound of flapping wings just before a whoosh of air ruffled her hair. Her eyes flew open, and she turned to see a black crow perched on the top of her parents' headstone.

Shivers ran down her spine as Elena stared at the crow. It looked _exactly_ like the crow that had hit the windshield of Bonnie's car this morning—maybe it was even the _same _one. "Okay," Elena said out loud, hearing the nervousness in her voice, and chiding herself for it, "Hi, bird. You're not creepy or anything. Shoo!"

With a caw, the crow flapped its wings and flew off. _It's just an ordinary bird,_ Elena assured herself as the crow made for the trees surrounding the cemetery. _No need to get freaked out. Bonnie's psychic talk is starting to get to me. I'm seeing signs and omens in everything. _

The crow, however, didn't seem to be done with her yet. Swerving around in a wide arc, it headed towards her again, and Elena noticed with some alarm that fog was beginning to ascend around the cemetery. _Fog_? She thought. _I don't remember fog being in the forecast for today. _

All thoughts of weather forecasts were driven from Elena's mind, however as something in her peripheral vision caught her eye. There was a mausoleum nearby, and Elena was almost sure she had seen movement in one of the shadowy corners. Muscles tightening, she turned her head slowly.

Fear shot through her. There was_ definitely _a man in the shadows near the tomb. Scooping up her backpack, Elena turned and began to run. Running, as it turned out, was not the easiest thing to do in a cemetery, with all the headstones in the way, and Elena had always sucked at track. It wasn't long before one of her sneakers caught on a rock and she went tumbling.

"Ahh!" Elena cried out as she sprawled on the grass. Shaking, she pulled herself to her hands and knees first, and then stood. Almost on reflex she looked over her shoulder—and stared straight in the hazel eyes of the guy who'd caught her and Maddie in the men's restroom that morning.

"You okay?" he asked, taking a few steps towards her.

_Is he the guy I saw in the shadows of the mausoleum? If so, why did he run after me? _"Were you following me?" Elena demanded rather angrily before she could stop herself.

The guy looked abashed. "No, I-a, uh, I-a just — I saw you fall." He stopped, seeming not to know what else to say.

"Uh-huh," Elena said. She didn't believe this guy, not by a long shot, though she couldn't for the life of her fathom _why _he would be following her, and in a cemetery, no less. "And you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery."

"I'm visiting," he replied, just a little defensively. "I have family here."

_Oops. _Elena cringed, realizing how insensitive she had sounded. It was perfectly legitimate to go a cemetery to "visit" your dead relatives; stars knew _she _ did it enough. After all, she and Maddie weren't the only people in Mystic Falls who had lost family recently. "Oh. Wow. Tactless. I'm sorry. It's the fog, it's making me foggy. And then back there, there was this - this bird, and it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right, the Hitchcock?" Elena snatched a breath, realizing too late that she had been babbling in her attempt to apologize and explain her no doubt strange-looking behavior. Her face flamed. What could she do to rectify this? _Well, the least I could do is tell him my name. _"I'm Elena," she finished, somewhat lamely.

"I'm Stefan," he replied.

_Stefan. _Elena thought. It was a fitting name, she decided. It was Italian, and kind of old and exotic-sounding. She remembered that one of the vampires in the Twilight Saga (which she and Maddie both agreed was possibly the _worst_ piece of vampire crap fiction _ever _written) had been named Stefan. One of the Romanian ones, if she remembered correctly. "Nice to meet you," Elena said. She paused. "We have History together," she remarked, somewhat unnecessarily. Of course he knew they had history together; he _had _been staring at her in class.

"And English and French," Stefan added.

"Right."

Smiling a little, Stefan reached forward and pulled a large dry leaf out of Elena's straight hair. Her hair crackled lightly with static electricity as he touched it, and she noticed a very large, fancy ring set with a blue stone with a calligraphic "S" in the middle of it on his finger. "S" for "Stefan," no doubt.

"Thanks," she murmured, her eyes fixed on the ring as Stefan flicked the leaf away. "Nice ring."

"Oh," Stefan said, almost as if surprised. "Um, it's a family ring, yeah. I'm kinda stuck with it." He frowned a little as he said that. "It's weird, huh?"

"No, no," Elena said, feeling that her remark had been taken the wrong way. She _liked _the ring; she had never seen any ring like it before, and the fact that it was a family ring made it so much more interesting. Heirlooms had always interested Elena. "It's just, I mean, there are _rings_ and then there's _that_.."

Stefan didn't respond to her remark. He was looking at her with an odd intensity that made Elena feel a little weird in the back of her mind; most of her attention was on his strange, elaborate ring. "Did you hurt yourself?" he asked, concern coloring his voice and expression.

"Hmm?" Elena's eyes were still fixed on Stefan's ring, and she only half-heard him.

"Did you hurt yourself?" Stefan repeated.

Stefan's words finally sunk into Elena's brain, and she blinked. "Oh, uh, I don't know." Just as she finished saying the words, she realized her left leg was stinging. Grimacing, she reached down and pulled up her pant leg. Sure enough, there was a very large abrasion on the side of her leg leaking blood. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Would you look at that. That is not pretty."

Stefan stared at the blood for moment, and then quickly turned around. He seemed to be breathing a bit heavily.

"Are you okay?" Elena asked softly. Her experiences during the past summer had taught her that relatively small things could have big emotional and psychological impacts on a person, and she understod right away that blood made Stefan squeamish. Blood usually didn't seem to bother guys that much, but it obviously got to Stefan. She wondered what connotations blood held for him to make him react in such a way. Maybe somebody he loved had gotten shot in front of him or something.

"You should go," Stefan said; his voice sounded calm, but it was forced kind of calm. "Take care of that."

"Really, it's nothing," Elena insisted, but Stefan was already walking away rapidly. Elena watched him for a few moments before shrugging, pulling down her pant leg, and making her way out of the cemetery.

* * *

_**The Salvatore Boarding House**_

Stefan took a deep breath as he opened his diary. Elena's journal lay on his desk where he had picked it up, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't sorely tempted to open it, to read the thoughts of this girl who had fascinated him for three months. But Stefan considered himself honorable, and he refused to open the cover of the slim green journal. It was bad enough that he was compelling people just to get to be near Elena.

Picking up his pen, Stefan wrote.

_I lost control today. Everything I've kept buried inside came rushing to the surface. I'm simply not able to resist her._

* * *

_**The Mystic Grill**_

Jeremy glanced around a little furtively as he entered the Mystic Grill. His sisters had loved to hang out here after school during their entire high school careers, and there was no telling whether or not they would return to their old haunt now that school was back in session. The last people on earth—next to Tyler Lockwood—that Jeremy wanted to see right now were his sisters. He knew they were both pissed at him, and he'd be almost sure to receive a thorough lecture if they caught him here. He wondered if they had found out that he'd skipped two classes today yet. Maybe they hadn't, since they hadn't called him. Or maybe they were waiting to flay him at home, with Aunt Jenna there to back them up.

A quick scan of the interior of the Grill revealed neither of his sisters or any of their friends, but it did reveal Vicki Donovan, dressed in her uniform, waiting on tables in the back corner, and it also revealed Tyler Lockwood, seated with Matt Donovan. Matt was sipping a coke, while Tyler took draughts of his beer. Jeremy's lips curled. Tyler was underage, but just because he was the Mayor's son, he could get away with anything. Relieved by his sisters' absence and Vicki's presence, and annoyed by Tyler's presence, Jeremy made his way over to Vicki and walked beside her. "Hey, Vick."

"Working," Vicki replied tersely, and walked away towards the table where her brother Matt and Tyler were sitting. She placed a plate with a massive roast beef sandwich on it in front of her brother on the table.

"Thanks, Vick," Matt said, pushing his coke away and tearing into the sandwich.

Vicki didn't bother to answer her brother. "Do you need another refill?" she asked Tyler. Jeremy wanted to spit. Here Vicki was, not bothering to answer her brother while fawning over Tyler. Did what they'd had over the summer not mean anything to her? Why couldn't she see that Tyler was nothing more than a hot jackass? It hurt that Vicki was ignoring him this way, and Jeremy clenched his fists at his sides as pain shot through his chest.

"I'd love one," Tyler said, pushing his empty glass towards Vicki with the air of one who is taking his due. Vicki took the glass and left the table, making her way towards the counter in the back.

Jeremy lingered for a moment as Matt turned to Tyler, a warning expression on his normally good-humored face. "Please tell me you're not hooking up with my sister."

"I'm not hooking up with your sister," Tyler replied snidely in a voice that clearly indicated he was.

_Liar, _Jeremy thought disgustedly. _You two-faced liar. _

Matt obviously saw Tyler's words for the lie they were, and a look of revulsion passed over his face. "You're such a dick," he said.

Figuring there was nothing left to see; Matt wasn't stupid enough to challenge Tyler to a fight, Jeremy turned and walked quickly after Vicki. He caught up to her just before she reached the counter. "Hey, what's your deal?" he asked, a little desperately. "I mean, summer you act one way and then school starts and you can't be bothered."_ Is it because a sophomore isn't cool enough for you? Was I just making up what I thought we had? Or are you just that blinded by that jerk Tyler?_

Vicki blew out her breath. "Look, Jeremy, I really appreciate all the pharmaceuticals, but you can't keep following me around like a lost puppy."

Jeremy snapped. "When's the last time you had sex with a puppy?" It came out harsher than he'd intended, but he was tired of Vicki pushing him away after all that had happened between them during the summer.

"Hey!" Vicki hissed, glancing around furtively. "Keep it down. I don't want to tell the whole world I deflowered Maddie's kid brother."

Admittedly, telling anyone, least of all Maddie and Elena, that he had had sex with Vicki Donovan was a _bad _idea. Jeremy tended to keep himself out of his sisters' love lives, but as far as he knew, neither of them had ever had sex with anyone. They would both be beyond horrified to learn he had slept with Vicki Donovan, of all people, on multiple occasions, and Jeremy saw himself grounded for the rest of his sophomore year if either of them ever found out. Despite the danger, though, he was NOT backing down. He wasn't going to just let Vicki ignore him. "Yeah," he replied. "And deflowered and deflowered."

"We hooked up a few times in a drug haze," Vicki allowed, lips tight. "It's over. You gotta back off before you ruin things between me and Tyler."

Jeremy was sick to death of hearing about Tyler Lockwood. It was plain as day to him that the guy didn't give a crap about Vicki; he just liked to have sex with her. "Oh, come on," he said in exasperation. "The guy's a _total_ douche. He just wants you for your ass."

Vicki's eyes flashed. "Yeah?" she challenged defiantly. "And what do _you_ want me for?" she challenged. Before Jeremy could answer, she spun away and left to get Tyler's refill.

* * *

_**In the Grill **_

"His name is Stefan Salvatore," Caroline told Bonnie, smiling widely. "He lives with uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini, and his favorite color is blue."

Bonnie sighed inwardly. Caroline was beyond _infatuated _with the new guy, and Bonnie had a feeling it wasn't going to end well. Stefan had been staring at Elena all during history class, and she would bet a considerable amount of money that the guy already had a thing for her. She hadn't witnessed any of the conversations Caroline must have had with Stefan to get _all that information _out of him, but she had a premonition that Stefan wasn't nearly as into Caroline as she was into him. "You got all of that in one day?" she asked, a little incredulously, seeing Caroline's expectant gaze.

"Oh please!" Caroline made a dismissive motion with her right hand. "I got all that between third and fourth period." She smiled. "We're planning a June wedding."

_Here we go_, Bonnie thought to herself.

* * *

_**Gilbert House **_

Maddie looked up from her copy of _Halfway to the Grave _by Jeanine Frostas the front door slammed. Footsteps sounded on the hardwood floor, and a moment later Elena appeared in the entranceway to the living room, looking a little tired, a little confused, and a little…pissed off.

"Hi, little sister," Maddie said, placing a bookmark in her book to mark her page and standing up. "You look…" she paused, considering, "a little pissed off." She did a double take. "Is that _blood_ on your jeans?"

"Oh, that," Elena looked down at her leg as if noticing it for the first time. "Yeah. I'm...clumsy. I fell down in the cemetery and cut my leg. It's nothing big."

"Running over gravestones?" Maddie said darkly, crossing her arms over her chest as she took a few steps towards her sister. "How disrespectful. Lucky you didn't wake up any hungry ghouls and ghosts who'd love to feast on young, decadent female flesh." It occurred to her only after the words left her mouth that that was hardly the nicest or most appropriate thing to say to her still-grieving sister. Jokes about dead people were no longer very funny in the Gilbert household, but Maddie had found that sometimes the only way she could deal with pain was to trivialize it, to mock it, scorn it, and jest about it. It made her feel…powerful, like she controlled her grief instead of it controlling her, even though she knew that it was a fake sense of power and quite possibly an indication that she actually _couldn't _deal with her grief head on. But she used it anyway, because she figured that at this point she needed to do whatever she needed to to survive. Silently, though, Maddie chided herself for saying something that might upset her sister even more than she was already.

Fortunately, her sister seemed distracted and didn't react with revulsion or sadness the way she usually did to dead-people jokes these days. She just frowned slightly at her sister. "Ghosts don't eat people."

"Ghouls do," Maddie replied, relieved that her sister didn't seem bothered, and then shrugged. Elena had this look on her face like she'd just seen something interesting and was dying to tell someone about it, but was trying not to show it. "You look like you have _some juicy gossip _to tell me," Maddie said, smirking. "Why don't I take care of the cut for you, and you spill to me?"

"Mhm hmm. You would pry whatever I know out of me anyway, Maddie," Elena deadpanned, but there was a little sparkle in her eye. "You don't have to be nice about it."

"But it's what big sisters do to little sisters, little sister," Maddie said, smirking.

Elena just rolled her eyes as she turned and headed for the bathroom.

* * *

_**In the Bathroom**_

"This will sting," Maddie said, pressing a small square of gauze over the mouth of the bottle of rubbing alcohol and upending the bottle quickly before turning it right-side-up again. "Spill. Now."

"I went to the cemetery to write in my journal," Elena began, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly as Maddie dabbed the gauze on the cut, "and when I was there, this crow landed on Dad and Mom's headstone—"

Maddie's eyes narrowed. _Crows again? _"A crow? Again?" Seeing her sister nod, Maddie gave Elena her best suspicious look. "Are you practicing voodoo in the cemetery?" Maddie knew it was highly unlikely Elena was messing with the occult, but she remembered reading somewhere that crows were harbinger of death and could be summoned by using magic and other occult-ish stuff. She was mostly joking, but grief _did_ sometimes mess with people's heads and she needed to make sure Elena was okay. Or maybe she' d just read too many fantasy/supernatural novels over the summer.

Elena looked at her with disbelief. "Of course not. Of the two of us, you're the one people would suspect of being a witch first."

_Going for the jugular, are we? _ Elena might not be as snarky as Maddie was, but she had a great talent for pointing out annoying little facts that crushed Maddie's sarcastic arguments. Sometimes, Maddie really didn't like it. "_Great_. My sister just accused me of practicing witchcraft. Keep talking." She pulled a large band-aid out of the box and began opening the package.

"I shooed the crow off," Elena continued, "and then this weird fog started rolling into the cemetery—don't interrupt; let me finish!" Maddie nodded, and Elena continued. "I saw a man standing next to the mausoleum, so I picked up my stuff and started to run. That must've been when I dropped my journal. I fell down, and when I turned around the guy we saw the men's room today was there. He asked me if I was okay and pulled a leaf out of my hair. He had this big fancy ring on his finger with an "S" in the middle, and when I complimented it, he said it was a family ring. I sort of accused him of following me and sarcastically implied that he just "happened" to be hanging out in a cemetery, and he said he had family there he was visiting. Then he asked me if I was okay and when I pulled up my pant leg I saw my leg was bleeding and the blood made him squeamish and he left. His name's Stefan," Elena finished, seemingly slightly out of breath from her info-dump.

Maddie busied herself cleaning up the first-aid supplies for a few moments while she processed Elena's story. It was interesting, if nothing else, and a little creepy. It sounded a LOT like one of the beginning scenes of those fantasy books she loved to read, and Maddie felt her spine prickle slightly. She was also…annoyed. It seemed pretty obvious to her that this Stefan dude had been the one hanging out in the shadows of the mausoleum and that he had chased Elena while she ran. Junior guys went to the cemetery to party and drink booze, or stalk girls, and she didn't like the thought of Stefan alone in the cemetery with Elena. She didn't know the guy, but she already didn't really like him. "I'm impressed. Fast update. As for this Stefan dude…I think he's got a stalker streak the size of Texas."

Elena rolled her eyes. "Why would you think that?"

"Well," Maddie said, in her 'this should be so obvious' voice, "he was the guy hanging out in the shadows of the mausoleum, and he chased you when you ran. Junior guys go to cemeteries to get high, get drunk, rape girls," Maddie the crimes off on her fingers, "or do all three. Stefan was stalking you, like Edward does to Bella. And you know, that fog? Maybe it wasn't as "natural" as you think. Maybe he was practicing voodoo, controlling the elements." Maddie meant for her tirade to sound like a joke, sort of, but as the words left her mouth, it didn't seem very much like a joke. What Elena had described sounded eerie, at least to her, and well…she just didn't like it.

Elena, however, seemed to take the whole thing as just another crazy-fantasy Maddie-rant. She rolled her deep brown eyes, shaking her head at her sister as she stood up. "You're being ridiculous. He wasn't stalking me—he was just visiting family in the cemetery, like me. And the fog was just natural. Thanks for taking care of the cut."

"Do you have a crush on this Stefan guy?" Maddie asked, a little suspiciously.

Elena stared at her. "Of course not. I just…thought the way I met him was interesting. It was weird, you know, kind of surreal…" she shook her head suddenly, trailing off. "Sorry, Maddie. I'm not making any sense. It's the first day of school stress."

"No, you're fine," Maddie assured quickly. "If you ask me, your little graveyard meeting actually sounded kind of creepy. I'll keep an eye on Stefan."

Elena whacked Maddie playfully in the shoulder as she headed for the bathroom door. "Trust you to go all protective big sister on me. Stefan's fine, if a little weird."

"What about the crow thing?" Maddie said pointedly. "Does that mean something, or has the crow population of Mystic Falls just suddenly spontaneously decided to explode?"

Elena frowned. "I think I'm just making all of it up. Bonnie' psychic talk got to me. That's all." She sighed, shaking her head again. "I have homework." She left the bathroom, and Maddie stared after her sister for a moment. She didn't really believe any of her own talk about voodoo and omens, but the creepy feeling that had begun to envelop her when Elena started her story hadn't quite evaporated.

"Caw!" Maddie jumped as a crow's call pierced the air. Heart pounding, she turned to gaze out the bathroom window, searching the sky for the black bird. _What the crap is up with these damn crows? _

Sure enough, there was a crow perched in a nearby tree, eerily still, staring right at Maddie. For a moment she was nearly overcome by an urge to bolt out the bathroom door, but Maddie had made a habit of standing up to most things that scared her, and her wits didn't fail her now. Stalking up to the window, she placed her hands on the windowsill and glared at the crow for all she was worth. "Get lost before I get pissed off, crow."

The crow stared at her for a few second longer, before spreading its wings and flying off into the sky.

* * *

_**Later**_

"Where are you two going?" Jenna asked, coming into the foyer just as Maddie put her hand on the doorknob.

"We're meeting Bonnie and Caroline at the Grill," Elena replied, nodding to her aunt.

"Okay, have fun," Jenna assented. She turned around and started to go back into the kitchen, then paused. "Oh wait," she said, glancing back over her shoulder at the sister. "I got this. Don't stay out late; it's a school night."

Elena smiled a little. Jenna was still rather used to being the "cool aunt" who let her nieces and nephew stay up all night watching movies whenever she babysat them, and consequently often forgot the more "parent-like" admonishments and behaviors that would otherwise have been the norm for a guardian. Now that school was starting, she seemed to be trying to adopt a stricter attitude, and while Elena felt it wasn't really necessary for Jenna to take that approach her and Maddie, she truly appreciated the effort her aunt was trying to make to look out for the Gilbert siblings. She was about to compliment Jenna when Maddie broke in, her hazel eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Don't worry, Aunt Jenna. I'm a legal adult. I'll make sure Elena doesn't get drunk and gets home before curfew."

_Ugh. _Elena loved her sister, but sometimes Maddie _really_ got on her nerves—like when she tried to pull the seniority card. The truth was, Maddie was only around eleven months older than her and therefore the seniority argument wasn't nearly as valid as it might be. Elena remembered them being almost like twins before her parents died, but after the accident Maddie had…kind of _distanced_ herself from Elena in some ways, fully embracing the fact that she was the eldest Gilbert sibling and trying to look out for both Elena and Jeremy in a way she hadn't before. Sometimes, though, like now, she took the seniority thing a little too far, and in Elena's opinion, began to cross the line into arrogance. Before she could complain to her sister, however, someone knocked on the door.

Maddie shot a look back at her, and then opened the door.

Stefan Salvatore stood on the doorstep, a slightly hesitant look on his face.

Maddie stared at him for a moment, and for a split second Elena wondered if her older sister was going to slam the door in the attractive boy's face, but she just lifted an eyebrow. "Stefan, right?"

"Yes," Stefan nodded, gazing past Maddie's body to meet Elena's eyes for a moment before returning his gaze to Maddie's face. "How did you know?"

"Oh, Elena gave me the scoop on your creepy little graveyard meeting," Maddie said nonchalantly, but Elena could hear the dangerous undercurrent in her sister's smooth voice. Elena cringed (why did Maddie have to be so _freaking _antagonistic sometimes?), but Stefan, to his credit, didn't react and Maddie held out her hand politely, after a definite beat. "I'm Madison Gilbert, Elena's older sister. Call me Maddie—everybody does."

"Pleasure to meet you, Maddie," Stefan said, shaking her sister's hand.

"My pleasure," Maddie replied, and then stepped away from the doorway, allowing Elena a full view of Stefan. "I'll let you two talk," she said, looking between them and raising her eyebrows meaningfully at Elena. _I'll be listening, _her look said.

Maddie walked away, stopping at the entrance to the kitchen. Elena knew she'd be hanging onto every single word both she and Stefan said and silently cursed her sister as she faced Stefan. "Uh, hi Stefan."

"Sorry for just…barging in like this," Stefan said earnestly. "I wanted to apologize for running off earlier. I know it was…weird."

"No worries," Elena assured him, though she _was _curious as to why blood made Stefan so uncomfortable. "I get it, blood makes you squeamish."

"Um, something like that," Stefan admitted. "How's your leg?"

"Oh, it's fine. Just a scratch, barely," Elena replied, feeling a phantom sting under the bandage Maddie had applied to the cut. She paused, and she felt a slight prickle on her neck as she recalled Maddie's comments about Stefan being a potential stalker. She couldn't quite keep the tinges of suspicion and accusation out of her voice as she asked. "How did you know where I lived?"

"It's a small town," Stefan said with a small shrug. "I just asked the first person I saw." He hesitated. "I thought you might want this back." He pulled a slim green journal from his backpack and handed it to her.

"Oh!" Elena exclaimed. "I must have dropped it. I—thank you." As she ran her hand over the familiar cover, her heart plummeted like a stone in her chest as she wondered. _Did he read it? Does he know all of my secrets now? _She could think of almost no one who would not read someone else's journal if they saw it lying around in plain sight. Maybe Maddie wasn't entirely wrong about Stefan…

Stefan seemed to read her mind. "Don't worry," he assured her. "I didn't read it."

"No?" Elena asked, a little incredulously. She knew that sometimes people saying they hadn't done something was a clear indication that they _had _done that very thing, although she couldn't think of a reason Stefan why would lie in this situation. It would be too easy for her to assume he _was _ lying. "Why not? Most people would have."

"Well," Stefan replied, looking a little uncomfortable, "I wouldn't want anyone to read mine."

Elena was even _more_ surprised. She didn't remember ever meeting a guy who kept a diary, at least not on a regular basis. "You keep a journal?" she asked.

Stefan nodded. "Yeah. If I don't write it down, I forget it. Memories are too important."

_I agree with that. You have to keep your memories, both the good and the bad. _"Yeah. I'm just going to go get…ah, you don't have to stay out there," she said, suddenly realizing that both she and Maddie had kept Stefan on the doorstep. Their mother would never have done that; she would have invited him in and had him sit down. Miranda Gilbert had been well-known in her social circles for her hospitality.

Stefan started to step in, and then stopped. "I'm fine. Sorry, were you going somewhere?"

"Maddie and I were meeting friends," Elena said, and then hesitated. She could hardly just tell him to go away, and in all honesty he seemed kind of…lonely to her. Maybe hanging out with her, Maddie, Bonnie, and Caroline would be good for him. All four were part of a "well-connected," as Elena liked to put it (she didn't like saying "popular") group, and getting to know them would help ease the awkwardness of being new and help him start integrating into the society of Mystic Falls High School. "Do you want to come?"

"Sure," Stefan said. He gave her a tiny smile.

"Alright," Elena smiled at him, then turned back to face the interior of the house. "Maddie!"

To her credit, Maddie took her time coming to the door, making it look as if she had been elsewhere in the house while in reality she had been only a few feet from the door, hanging onto every word of Stefan and Elena's conversation.

"Ready?" Maddie smiled as she walked up.

Elena nodded. "Just let me put my journal in my room," she said, backing into the house. "I'll be right down." She jogged toward the stairs as Maddie walked out onto the porch to join Stefan.

* * *

_**On the Porch **_

"You're a senior, right?" Stefan asked as Maddie leaned against the porch railing. The answer was obvious, but he felt a need to make some sort of conversation, and school-related topics were as good a place to start as any, he supposed.

"Yeah," Maddie replied, shrugging casually, studying him with piercing hazel green eyes.

Stefan nodded and they fell silent. As they waited for Elena to arrive, he took the time to study the older Gilbert sister. She was very beautiful—much like Elena, but looked nothing like her sister. They both had dark brown hair and olive-tinted skin, but Maddie was significantly taller, with darker hair, a differently shaped face, and piercing hazel green eyes where Elena's were warm chocolate. And while Elena's fashion style seemed to be casual but cute, Maddie was all-out feminine. Of course, he'd only seen them a few times, but the fact that Elena was sporting simple blue jeans, a cute red top, and converses, while Maddie was decked out in a short knit pink dress that showed off her fabulous legs and strappy black heeled sandals seemed to be proof enough that Elena and Maddie didn't really overlap while shopping for clothes.

And there was, of course, the matter of their personalities. Elena was warm and caring, but spunky, as far as he could tell, while Maddie seemed to have a definite "mean girl" streak. He could already tell that she didn't particularly like him, and he couldn't help but wonder how far her knowledge of the supernatural might or might not go. Her parents had both been members of the Town Council, after all. Maddie also reminded him of someone, strangely…but he couldn't remember who it was.

* * *

A/N: _And with this chapter I introduce another OC-Amadeo Ricci, who will end up playing an important role later on. I'd like to hear you readers' thoughts on him-does he sound like a cardboard cut-out, boring, or a Gary Stu? _

_Hmm...Maddie doesn't seem to like Stefan very much, does she? She is a legal adult, and is super protective of Elena, so she's automatically suspicious of anyone who might seem to have anything less than **completely** honorable intentions towards Elena. And who does Maddie remind Stefan of? We shall see.  
_

_BTW, _Halfway to the Grave _by Jeanine Frost is a real book. I haven't read it, but as a fantasy fan, it seemed like the type of reading Maddie would like. Of course, the fact that it is a vampire novel is also foreshadowing...**wink**. _

_So...please review? I would love to hear your thoughts on the story so far. Constructive criticism, ideas, and suggestions are more than welcome. If anyone wants to talk, PM me!_

_Ciao! _

_Sabre _


	4. Chapter 3 : Pilot : Heat It Up

**Chapter 3: Pilot: Heat It Up...**

_Brooke Daniels and Darren Bair were found dead and drained of blood on a deserted road this morning. One of THEM is back. _

_-Deputy Carla James, to Sheriff Elizabeth "Liz" Forbes _

* * *

"How is Elena doing?"

Bonnie sighed slightly as she looked across the table at Matt Donovan. "Her mom and dad died. How do you think? She putting on a good face, but it's only been four months." Healing, Bonnie knew, could take a _long_ time. Her mother had up and left her when she was a baby, and at seventeen Bonnie was still hurt that her mother hadn't cared enough to be in her life. Crap, she didn't even know _where _her mother lived; she _never_ called, not even on Christmas or Bonnie's birthday, nor did she send money the way some absentee parents had the decency to do.

Matt bit his lip and ran one hand through his blonde hair before blurting, "Has Elena said anything about me?"

_Now we're getting to the point. _"Oh, no," Bonnie shook her head. She had no desire whatsoever to meddle in Matt and Elena's affairs, even though she was Elena's best friend. Experience had taught her that a friend interfering in a friend's romance (or lack thereof) with a mutual friend usually only created problems, and sometimes disaster. "So _not_ getting in the middle of this," she declared. "_You_ pick up the phone and call her."

"I feel weird calling her," Matt protested. "_She _broke up with _me_."

Bonnie sighed, and said the only thing she could think of that wouldn't sound like she was giving him false hope or being trite. "Give it more time, Matt." _Time heals all wounds, right? Sort of, anyway. Dulls the pain would probably be more accurate. _

Just then, the door to the Grill swung open and the Gilbert sisters entered with…Stefan Salvatore. Elena and Stefan were walking side by side, with Maddie a little in front. "More time, huh?" Matt said, a little dejectedly, staring at his ex-girlfriend.

Bonnie just shook her head, and waved to Elena. The trio began making their way over to Bonnie and Matt's table, and Caroline appeared out of nowhere and hurried towards the gathering group.

Matt stood as the Gilbert sisters and Stefan approached, and Bonnie followed suit.

Matt smiled at Stefan as he came up, though Bonnie, who had known Matt for all of her conscious life, saw immediately that it was a forced smile. "Hey," he said politely, sticking out his hand for a handshake. "I'm Matt. Nice to meet you."

Stefan nodded, shaking Matt's hand. "Hi. I'm Stefan."

"Hey," Elena said to Matt, a little lamely, and Bonnie saw Maddie look between the two and then shake her head.

"Hey," Matt replied, and the gathering tension grew thick.

"Hey, Matt," Maddie said, obviously trying to run interference for the ex-couple. "How do you think football season's going to go this year?"

"Well, we have…" Matt began, but Caroline cut in, smiling at Stefan.

"So, were you born in Mystic Falls, Stefan?" Caroline asked brightly. Bonnie saw Maddie roll her eyes out of the corner of her eye. Bonnie loved her friend, but Caroline sure could be overbearing at times, and she seemed not to care very much who she steamrolled over when she was dead set on something, which, in this case, was Stefan.

"Mhm-hmm," Stefan nodded. "And I moved when I was still young."

"Parents?" Maddie questioned.

"My parents passed away," Stefan stated rather matter-of-factly. Bonnie caught Elena's eye, raising her eyebrows as if to say _Have you told him? _but Elena shook her head fractionally. _Oh well_, Bonnie thought, _he'll find out soon enough. And then the solidarity will start—Matt probably doesn't stand a chance anymore. _

"I'm sorry," Elena said to Stefan sympathetically. "Any siblings?"

"None that I talk to," Stefan replied after a slight pause. "I live with my uncle."

Caroline butted back in, stepping a tad closer to Stefan. "So Stefan, if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow."

"It's a back to school thing at the falls," Bonnie said, watching carefully for Stefan's reaction.

Stefan didn't really respond to either Caroline or Bonnie, instead turning fractionally towards Elena. "Are you going?" he asked.

"Yes she is," Maddie replied for Elena. The look on her face was not exactly friendly; in fact, it bordered on…suspicion. Maddie had gotten extra protective of Elena during the past summer, and Bonnie _knew _she was going to meddle a _lot _more in her younger sister's love life than she used to. Obviously she, like Bonnie, had already picked up on the fact that Stefan…liked Elena, and she apparently didn't like it too much. Bonnie didn't know why, though. Stefan seemed nice, at least to her.

Bonnie sighed inwardly as Caroline began to explain the festivities which would take place at the falls. Stefan had a thing for Elena, Maddie was suspicious of Stefan, Matt did not appreciate the new guy moving in on his ex-girlfriend, and Caroline already had a ginormous crush on Stefan. This was going to be…_interesting_, to say the least.

* * *

_**Gilbert House**_

Maddie was just pulling on her pink pajama tank top when a knock sounded on her bedroom door. "Come in," she called, knowing it was Elena.

There was a pause, and then her door swung open to reveal Elena in her pajamas, looking serious and a little plaintive. Maddie sat down on the edge of her bed, crossed her legs at the knees and patted the spot beside her. "Come for the post-first day of school debriefing?"

"Sort of," Elena eplied with a small chuckle, shutting the door behind her and making her way over to sit beside Maddie. "More like sister bonding time."

"Mhm hmm," Maddie moved back on the bed and lay on her back, her legs hanging off the edge, and stared up at the ceiling. "How about a session of Boys 101, Maddie-style?"

Elena shook her head, picking up one of the soft pink pillows on Maddie's bed and squeezing it to her chest. "Caroline has a _huge _crush on Stefan," she said.

Maddie sat up, raising an eyebrow at her sister. "Jealous? Don't worry; Stefan is _seriously_ into you." _And I'm not sure I like that…at all. _

Elena just frowned. "I don't think so; he's just being nice. I'm just worried that Caroline going to end up having her heart broken."

_Ever the kind-hearted one._ Maddie thought. Elena was the one you could always count on to put others' feelings before her own, to try to run interference for ex-couples and break the truth to people in the most sensitive ways. Maddie considered herself pretty nice, but she'd be the first to admit she had a 'mean girl' side and sometimes, frankly, _enjoyed_ walking over the affections of boys who had unwanted crushes on her. If she was Stefan, she probably wouldn't be taking Caroline's aggressive come-ons nearly as nicely. "Yep, heart drama coming up. Stefan's going to kill Caroline's hopes before they get too big, though, and I'll try to talk some sense into her. Thing is, girl doesn't listen when she's fixated on a guy." In all honesty, Maddie wasn't sure she was going to even put the effort into trying to talk to Caroline. It wouldn't be the first time Caroline had gotten a crush on a guy who wasn't into her and Maddie tried to talk to her, only to have Caroline ignore everything she said…and then come crying to her after crap went down and Caroline was left high and dry.

"Poor Caroline," Elena said with a sigh.

Maddie shrugged. She really didn't want to talk about Stefan or Caroline right now. "How'd your first day of school go, Lena?" Her sister seemed to be dealing, but Maddie knew better than most that Elena was pretty good at hiding what she was actually feeling.

Elena sighed again, looking down at the pillow in her hands. "It was…okay, I guess. People kept asking me if I was okay, and I told them I was okay, of course. It just…it feels weird being back at school, and everywhere I go I'm reminded of how things used to be, and it…_hurts_. It hurts a lot. I feel like I'm a different person from the Elena I used to be."

Maddie nodded. "Makes sense. I feel the same way too. When I look back to before Dad and Mom died, it's like I'm remembering somebody else's life, especially since I'm…not really friends with all the people I used to be friends with back then."

Elena nodded. "But I have to move on, I know. I can't keep being 'sad Elena' forever. I have to…get back into the swing of things. And I will, a little bit at a time."

Maddie could hear the sadness in her younger sister's voice, and her heart went out to her. After a moment of hesitation, she reached out and wrapped her right arm around Elena's shoulders. "Yeah. That's what I'm trying to do too. Except, I'm taking the 'jump headfirst right back in' approach. I've got all my courses and everything set, and I'm hoping to get back into performing with the Mystic Falls Band again. I already talked to Mr. Ricci this afternoon."

"About that," Elena turned to her with a concerned expression. "How are you and Mr. Ricci? I knew…you sort of weren't in contact over the summer."

Maddie felt her face burn again. Elena had been well aware of how Maddie had shoved most everyone out of her life except Caroline and Bonnie, but she had never judged Maddie for it or told she was being a bitch, which was what she had been…sometimes. "I…apologized to him, and we're on the 'mend the friendship' road now. Things'll be okay."

"I hope they do," Elena said, quickly grabbing and squeezing Maddie's hand. "You should get back into your music again. All those songs you wrote over the summer are waiting to be shared with the world."

Maddie pointed a finger at her sister. "And you should get back into all your… activities. Writing club, school newspaper, cheerleading, whatever."

Elena nodded. "Maybe. I just don't think I have anything to write right about now. Sad, mournful journal entries aren't exactly publishable material, and I'm not sure if I'm yet ready for all the interaction that comes with being an editor." She shook her head. "I find it almost hard to believe we used be so, so social and involved in the community!"

Maddie laughed rather cynically. "Yeah, I know." She nodded to the ribbon hung around one corner of the mirror above her dresser with MISS MYSTIC FALLS printed on it in huge capital letters, and then pointed to the medals and ribbons hanging above the dresser—an entire three years' worth of high school memorabilia. "Maddie Gilbert used to be popular, apparently."

"You've worked hard, done a lot," Elena said quietly. "I knew you were hoping senior year would be awesome…" she trailed off, her voice choking a little, and Maddie stiffened. "…but it ended up being ruined. I hope…things still turn out well for you."

"Senior year," Maddie said bitterly, letting her arm fall off Elena's shoulder as the memories of the work and anticipation and crushed hopes came flooding back in a painful tidal wave. "Growing up is overrated!" she snapped suddenly, and felt a little guilty as Elena jumped, startled. "Sorry, it's just…you know what, never mind! Crap happened to me, yeah, but I'm dealing with it."

Maddie felt her face burn as Elena stared at her. She had tried to avoid lashing out at people, but sometimes she just got so…damned frustrated with the incredibly awful turn her life had taken. She missed her parents so bad it _physically_ hurt, and sometimes she got so _tired_ of trying to be the oldest and hold everything together perfectly. She wanted the freedom to rage and feel sorry for herself, but she knew she couldn't do that, not with Elena and Jeremy counting on her, and especially with Jeremy abusing drugs. _  
_

"I'm sorry, Elena," Maddie said, staring at her reflection in the mirror across from her. "Your life got just as screwed over as mine."

"No, it's okay," Elena said quickly, wrapping her arm around Maddie's shoulders in turn. "You've held yourself together so well over the summer, and you can't be expected to be composed _all _the time. It's okay to be sad."

"Held myself together?" Maddie laughed sarcastically. "You call sitting at home and kicking everyone out of my life _holding myself together_? Thanks for the vote of…confidence."

"You did well, considering that Dad and Mom just died and you were looking out for me and Jeremy," Elena said, her voice taking on a slightly stern inflection that reminded Maddie, rather painfully, of their mother. "Don't be too hard on yourself.'

Maddie huffed lightly. "Thanks, little sister." She glanced at her watch, and her eyes widened slightly as she realized the time—10:54 pm. School would start again tomorrow, whether or not she and Elena were feeling depressed. "It's late," she said, waving her wrist in front of her sister. "Bedtime."

Elena removed her arm from Maddie's shoulder and started to stand up, and then turned back to Maddie with an unusually fierce expression. "I know it's time for us to get to bed, but don't you dare try to use that as an excuse to get rid of me. I'm your sister. Yeah I know you're the oldest and feel this responsibility to keep it together and not bother me with how you feel, but I'm. your. _sister_," she emphasized the last word, shaking her finger at Maddie. "Don't push me away like you have other people."

Maddie's face burned again. "Yeah, Elena. I won't." _At least I'll try not to. If I have to for your own good or my own sanity, I WILL. _

"Good," Elena nodded, apparently satisfied, "Good night."

"Good night," Maddie replied, and watched her sister walk out the door and close it behind her. She sat there for a moment longer after Elena had left, and then got up, turned off the lights, and crawled under the covers.

She closed her eyes, and as she sometimes did when the pain threatened to overwhelm her, she imagined all the bad things that had happened to her into nonexistence. She imagined that the accident had never happened, that her parents were still alive, that her first day of senior year had been wonderful, and that she was still the old Maddie Gilbert.

As it would turn out, such imaginations were beyond pointless, because with every tick of the clock, the old Maddie Gilbert, her life, her ideals, danced farther and farther away.

* * *

**Salvatore**_** Boarding House **_

Zach Salvatore's lightly grizzled face was the portrait of disapproval as he waved the newspaper accusingly in front of Stefan's face. "You promised!" he snapped angrily.

Stefan snatched the newspaper from Zach's hand and ran his eyes over it cursorily before tossing it onto the table. "That was an animal attack," he declared, crossing his arms across his chest and glaring at his relative.

Zach snorted, his green eyes brimming with accusation and betrayal. "Don't give me that," he spat scathingly. "I _know_ the game. You tear them up enough; they always suspect an animal attack. You _said _you had it under control!"

"And, I do," Stefan replied toughly. He had his bloodlust under control; he wouldn't have trusted himself around Elena if he hadn't. Damn, she'd been bleeding right there in front of him and he had controlled himself perfectly!

Zach blew out his breath, his shoulders slumping as he assumed a pleading expression. "_Please_, Uncle Stefan," he pleaded, "Mystic Falls is a different place now. It's been quiet for years, but there are people who _still _remember. And you being here," he sighed, "it's just going to stir things up."

Stefan clenched his fists. "I'm not going to stir things up," he said, even as the Ripper, long suppressed, whispered, _But it's such FUN to make a scandal of a small town, to rip it apart and leave blood and bodies everywhere. The taste of fresh blood, the intoxication of power, the pleasure of having no conscience and being able to do whatever the hell I want... _Stefan crushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. _I'm not the Ripper anymore, _he reminded himself. He couldn't cause trouble for Mystic Falls; he had done enough of that for ten lifetimes, and besides, the thought of doing anything that might harm…_her_ was…repulsive.

"Then _what_ is?" Zach pressed. "_Why_ did you come back? After all this time, why _now_?"

_Because I have to know her. I have to know why she looks like…her. _Aloud Stefan said, "I don't owe you any explanations." He could hear the arrogance, the touch of Ripper in his voice, and silently chided himself; but he stood firm, pressing his lips together to make it even clearer to Zach that he wasn't spilling. He certainly was _not_ about to tell Zach what he had done back in May, much less the reason he had chosen to return.

Zach glared at him, but there was no real malice behind it. "I know that you can't change what you are," he said, almost sympathetically. Then his voice hardened. "But you don't belong here anymore."

"_Where _do I belong?" Stefan meant for it to come out as a haughty, arrogant challenge, but it ended up sounding far more like a genuine question that he would have liked. There was a lost-ness to his inflection, and he hated it.

Zach shook his head, his face grave. "I can't tell you what to do. But coming back here was a mistake." Walking over to a nearby closet, he pulled out an old brown journal and opened the front cover. There, stark against the yellowed pages, was an old black and white photograph of a young woman with long dark curls, deep brown eyes, and a small smile. Her face was utterly identical to Elena's. Beneath the picture there was a caption: _Katherine, 1864. _

Stefan felt his stomach grow cold as Zach's eyes bored into him. He had thought he had covered his tracks perfectly, but apparently he had _not_. Zach _knew. _

_Oh, damn it. _

Feeling angry and exposed, Stefan started to turn on his heel and stalk out of the parlor, but Zach's voice stopped him. "Stefan?"

"Yeah?" Stefan replied impatiently without turning around.

"This came in the mail for you."

Stefan turned, and saw Zach was holding out a slim white envelope to him, a questioning look on his face as if to say, _Who would send you mail? _

Frowning a little, Stefan took the letter, pocketed it, and left the parlor. In his room, he took out the letter and turned it over. It appeared to be the average envelope, with no markings or writing on it anywhere. Curious, and a little wary, Stefan tore it open and extracted the single sheet of paper it contained.

_Auguri, amico mio! _

_Stefano, I apologize for this letter coming so late. One of my contacts told me you had recently returned to the United States, and I wanted to say hello to you. I would assume you are near Mystic Falls, correct? If so, then you aren't that far from New Orleans at all. You should come and visit me. I haven't seen you in a long time, and it's high time we caught up. By the way, how is my Italian? I have been trying to learn, but without you here to keep me at it my lessons have fallen by the wayside. I look forward to talking to you soon, amico. _

_I migliori auguri, _

_Marcel _

_I migliori auguri to you too, amico, _Stefan thought cynically as he crumpled the letter into a small ball and shoved it into one of the many drawers in his desk. He should have _known_ that Marcel would find out he was back in the States; he really _shouldn't_ have passed through New Orleans, but the sentimental side of him had demanded he revisit one of his old hometowns on his way back to his _original_ hometown, Mystic Falls. _Well, amico, you're going to have to wait for our happy little reunion. I have business of my own right now. _Not that Stefan resented Marcel, exactly, but the vampire king could be…annoying, and kind of over-controlling. Stefan had loved his stint as a Ripper with Marcel, but he wasn't that guy anymore, and he wasn't sure if he was ready to revisit the places where he had lived and killed so recklessly decades earlier. More importantly, there was someone in Mystic Falls who interested him _far_ more than his old friend in New Orleans, and quite possibly a rogue vamp to deal with in town as well.

Just thinking of the rogue vampire was enough to make Stefan scowl. He was stronger than he used to be when he was on an exclusively animal-blood diet, but he still wasn't as strong as a vampire who was only on _fresh_ human blood. Maybe he should up his intake…considering the fact that he might have to go head to head with the new vamp in town. Stefan also had a horrible suspicion as to who exactly that vamp might be, but he didn't want to consider it yet. Surely, _surely_ he wouldn't be stupid enough to come back _here_ and kill so recklessly.

It took only a moment for Stefan to convince himself that going from drinking blood bags twice a week to drinking them thrice a week was a prudent decision, what with the current situation. Smiling a little, and feeling the anticipation he always did before enjoying his favorite drink, he left his bedroom, shutting the door behind him, and made his way down into the cellar. There, after listening for a moment to make sure Zach wasn't anywhere nearby, he went to one of the doors, unlocked it, and walked inside, shutting the door behind him.

It was pitch black inside, and cold, but Stefan's vampire senses had no trouble perceiving the large refrigerator on the other end of the small crypt…and the delicious liquid it contained. Stefan's gums ached as his fangs begged to come out, and he knew that veins were beginning to spider across the skin beneath his eyes as he crossed the room with superhuman speed and opened the fridge, spilling cold white light across the floor of the room.

Stefan grabbed three of the bags, and then after a moment of hesitation, returned one of them to the shelf. Just because he felt he was ready to increase his intake didn't mean he should go on an all-out binge. He remembered all too clearly the last time what had happened when he "fell off the wagon", figuratively speaking.

Stefan shut the refrigerator and leaned against it before surrendering to the siren call of the red liquid in the clear plastic bags. Piercing the first bag with his fangs, not bothering to use a straw, he sucked hard and closed his eyes in ecstasy as the cold liquid gushed into his mouth before sliding smoothly down his throat. He swirled his tongue around in his mouth to smooth the last drops off his teeth before he sucked again, feeling the _rush _as the blood entered his system. And then he sucked again, and again, and again….

* * *

_**Mystic Falls High School, Mr. William Tanner's History Class **_

Mr. Tanner gripped the edge of his desk as he lectured his class in a clear voice. "The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle?" he asked. No one answered. Mr. Tanner's eyes gleamed as he scanned the class, finally coming to rest on Bonnie. "Ms. Bennett?"

Bonnie looked up from where she had been doodling in her notebook instead of taking notes. "Um . . . a lot?" she half-asked. "I'm not sure. Like a whole lot." She nodded, trying to look as if she had been paying attention but simply could not pull the answer out of her memory.

Mr. Tanner walked around his desk as he glared at Bonnie. "Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett," he said, disdain coloring his tone. He paused, looking for his next victim. "Mr. Donovan!"

The blonde football player raised his eyes from his desk. "Would you like to take this moment to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" the history teacher asked condescendingly.

"It's okay, Mr. Tanner," Matt replied indifferently. "I'm cool with it."

The class tittered.

"Hmm," Mr. Tanner said. "Elena?" he asked, seeing that the brunette was staring at her desk, obviously trying not to smirk. "Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significant historical events?"

Elena jumped slightly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Tanner," she said. "I—I don't know." She cringed as the words left her mouth; the last thing she wanted was to be called on and not know the answer. Mr. Tanner was a shark, and he'd be hounding her for the next week after this flub.

Mr. Tanner was obviously not pleased. His lips tightened. "I was willing to be lenient at the end of last year for obvious reasons, Elena," he said coolly. "But the personal excuses ended with summer break."

Elena's heart fell, and she felt her face burn as several classmates glanced at her. At the same time she felt embarrassed, however, she also felt angry. What right did Mr. Tanner have to talk so disrespectfully about her loss? She was trying so hard to get herself together, and here he was shooting her down. But then, she shouldn't have expected anything different—as Maddie was so fond of saying, Mr. Tanner was a jerk.

Mr. Tanner seemed about to give up and answer the question himself when Stefan spoke from behind Elena.

"There were three hundred forty-six casualties. Unless you're counting local civilians." Elena turned to look at Stefan and saw that his eyes were fixed on the history teacher, a look of complete confidence on his face. That in itself was amazing—very few students every looked completely confident while answering Tanner's questions; the man had a way of shooting down even the best.

Mr. Tanner looked surprised. "That's correct. Mister…"

"Salvatore," Stefan answered.

"Salvatore," Mr. Tanner repeated thoughtfully. "Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

Stefan nodded slightly. "Distant."

"Well, very good," Mr. Tanner remarked. "Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle."

"Actually, there were twenty-seven, sir. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss." A weird, impish little sparkle appeared in Stefan's eyes, and the corner of his mouth curled slightly. "The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner."

Elena could not help but smile widely as she winked at Stefan. Despite his "new kid" status, Stefan had totally handed Tanner his ass!

Mr. Tanner did not look pleased, but he did not try to argue with Stefan or send him to the principal's office.

* * *

_**Later That Night, The Party in the Woods **_

Bonnie and Elena were sitting at the base of a large tree, chatting quietly, when they both saw Stefan Salvatore walk past towards the tables laden with food, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"Hotness alert," Bonnie said, pretending to fan herself.

"Oh please," Elena groaned. "You make it sound as if you're going to spontaneously combust the moment Stefan Salvatore walks by." Secretly though, Elena couldn't help but study Stefan's wavy light brown hair and good physique as he walked. He looked like he would make a good athlete, she mused to herself.

Bonnie apparently saw Elena studying Stefan, and she elbowed her in the ribs. "Just admit it already, Elena! I can see that you're studying him."

Sighing, Elena conceded defeat. "Okay, okay, so he's a little pretty."

"He has that romance novel stare," Bonnie said dreamily.

Elena groaned again. It was a good thing Maddie wasn't here. She would have launched into a rambling Maddie-treatise about how 'romance novel stares' could be an indication of incredible stupidity and pointless obsession, of course using 'Dickward' and 'Whorella' (her nicknames for Edward and Bella of _Twilight _) as examples. Stefan didn't seem stupid or obsessed, though. He was… mysterious, evasive, intense.

And sometimes, she admitted to herself, mysterious wasn't a bad thing.

_A little later _

Stefan fought back the urge to cringe as he saw the blonde girl, Caroline Forbes, detach herself from a group of girls and start towards him, smiling widely. He thought Caroline was basically a good person, a nice girl, but the girl was just so…damn overbearing. Pushy. She'd made her interest in him clear almost from the moment he met her, bombarding him with questions immediately, and then going out of her way to be nice to him and make sure he was well aware of all the social functions that would be taking place at school in the near future. Stefan actually didn't mind the last one too much—it gave him a general idea of where Elena would be over the next week or so, and _that _Stefan was grateful for. It let him know where he would need to be to see her, and how to protect her from…_him_, because Stefan was getting more sure by the minute that as unlikely as it seemed, _he_ was back in town.

Stefan certainly wasn't excited about facing him, and was already beginning to think of strategies he could use to get rid of him, but he had to put that in the back of his mind for now as Caroline bustled up to him, smiling widely, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Hey!" Caroline said cheerily, fairly glowing with excitement, and Stefan almost felt bad for a moment that he was going to have to end up crushing this girl's hopes. It really was too bad—she was obviously _really_ into him—but a couple decades earlier, she would have been his dinner, so rejecting her advances wasn't so bad on the relative scale of not-nice things he had done in his lifetime. "You made it!"

"I did," Stefan said, trying to sound as indifferent as he could without appearing rude.

Caroline didn't seem to notice his lack of enthusiasm, if she did she ignored it, or maybe she chalked it up to him being the "new kid." The thought of him being seen as the "new kid" actually brought a small smirk to Stefan's face; he had been alive for longer than any of these teenagers here could hope to live.

"Well, let's get you a drink, then," Caroline said, touching his shoulder lightly as she began to walk towards the tables loaded with food and drinks.

"Well, I'm—" Stefan began, but it was obvious Caroline would have none of his protests, so he grimaced inwardly and followed the blonde.

_Back at Bonnie and Elena's tree _

"So, where did he go?" Bonnie asked, scanning the crowds of milling students for Stefan.

"I don't know," Elena replied, and then a thought occurred to her and she elbowed her friend playfully. "You tell me. You're the psychic one."

"Right, I forget," Bonnie said seriously. "Okay, so give me a sec. Grams says I need to concentrate."

"Wait, you need a crystal ball," Elena smirked. She reached for her empty bottle of coke and placed it in her best friend's hand.

Bonnie took the bottle seriously in her left hand and placed her right on Elena's left, and stared at the bottle fixedly. At first Elena was fighting the urge to giggle as Bonnie stared at the bottle, but then a glassy look came over her friend's eyes and a tiny shiver went down Elena's back. Either something was really happening, or Bonnie was just a lot better at acting that Elena had ever realized. Just as she was about to shake her friend and say she was creeping her out, the glassy look left Bonnie's eyes and she yanked her hand away from Elena's before looking up at her friend with a confused expression.

"What?" Elena asked warily as Bonnie set the bottle on the ground.

"That was weird," Bonnie mused. "When I touched you, I saw a crow."

_A crow_? Elena's mind flew back to the frightening incident in Bonnie's car, then the crow that had perched on her parents' headstone…and Maddie suspicion during their conversation. A shiver went down the brunette's back. Elena had never really believed in signs and omens and the occult, but this thing with the crows was starting to seriously creep her out. And with that glassy look that had come over Bonnie's eyes, as if she was really looking into the future…

"A crow," Bonnie repeated, her brow wrinkling. "There was fog, a man."

Elena was horrified. She remembered, oddly fuzzily, the strange fog that had risen in the cemetery and the man in the shadows. _But the man was Stefan _, she reasoned to herself. _And the fog was just natural. It has to be, doesn't it? _Her horror must have shown on her face, because Bonnie shook her head quickly and then stood up. "I'm drunk," she declared, although she looked perfectly sober, and Elena _knew _she hadn't been drinking. "It's the drinking," she repeated, as if trying to convince herself. "There's nothing psychic about it. Yeah? I'm going to go get a refill." With that, she walked off, leaving Elena alone.

"Bonnie!" Elena called after her, but her friend didn't reply. Sighing partly in confusion and partly in nervousness, she stood up, her back scraping lightly against the tree, and turned around.

She couldn't help but jump a little as she stared straight into Stefan Salvatore's intense hazel eyes. _What is this thing he does with appearing out of nowhere? And always after creepy things happen, too! _

"Hi," Stefan said lightly.

"Hi," Elena replied, not exactly sure what else to say.

Stefan gave her a wry little smile. "I did it again, didn't I? The appearing out of nowhere thing?"

_At least he admits it, _Elena thought. "Yeah," she replied, a little breathlessly.

"Sorry," Stefan apologized. He gave her a quick once-over. "You're…upset about something."

"Oh, uh, no," Elena denied quickly, aware as the words left her mouth that was making it all the more clear that there _was _ something she was upset about. "It's-it's just Bonnie. She's…" Elena suddenly realized she had nothing to say about Bonnie that would make sense. She'd just end up sounding like someone who needed grief counseling and a couple sessions with a psychologist. Elena had so far avoided 'shrinks' and she intended to continue doing so. "You know what? Never mind. You made it to the party!" she said, trying to sound as cheery as she could, hoping to take Stefan's mind off her little lapse earlier.

"I made it," Stefan replied, flashing her a smile. As he smiled, Elena noticed his incisors were long and slightly pointed, natural fangs.

"What?" Stefan asked, and Elena realized she had been staring at him. She shook her head, annoyed with herself; she was _so _ not one of those ditzy girls who got "lost in the depths" of a guy's eyes or "mesmerized" by his smile.

Smiling a little, shaking her head, Elena waved it off. "It's nothing. Just noticed you have natural fangs."

Stefan blinked, and then smiled again—and showing his fangs once more. "Yeah. Weird, huh?"

Elena shrugged. "Everybody has their quirks."

* * *

_**On the Bridge **_

"You know," Elena remarked to Stefan as she leaned against the bridge railing and stared into the clear water below, "you're kind of the talk of the town." Mystic Falls was so small and so closely-knit that it was like everyone knew when a new family moved into town or a family moved away. It was nice being so close with everyone, but it also usually meant that a lot of people knew when you had…personal problems. Elena was actually a little surprised Stefan didn't seem to know about her parents' deaths yet, especially since Caroline seemed to be updating him on all the town's events in a hurry.

Stefan smiled a little, leaning on the railing next to her. Elena could feel his eyes on her. "Am I?"

"Mhm-hmm. Mysterious new guy, oh yeah." The fact that Stefan was obviously a descendant of the Founding Families just added to his mystique; Maddie had sarcastically remarked to her today at lunch that Stefan was the 'lost member of the Salvatore family come home' after Elena told her about what had transpired in history class earlier.

"Well," Stefan said, "you kinda have the mysterious thing going, too. Twinged in sadness."

_Trying to turn the conversation back onto me, are we? _Elena saw Stefan's avoidance for what it was—a 'tu quoque'—turning the conversation back onto her by saying she was mysterious _too_. It was a little strange to be called mysterious, Elena reflected. She's always been described as…open, but her parents' deaths _had_ made her draw into herself in a way she never had before. She had talked far more to her journal than to people during the summer, and while her seclusion wasn't quite as intense now that school was back in session, she was hardly the sociable, popular girl she used to be.

"What makes you think I'm sad?" Elena asked before she could stop herself. Really, it wouldn't be that hard to find out what had happened to Elena Gilbert if Stefan really wanted to know—Grayson and Miranda Gilbert had both been valued, involved members of the community; they'd even had seats on the Town Council, and it would take only a little digging to find out what had happened to them back in May. But Stefan didn't really seem like the prying type…

"Well, we did meet in a graveyard," Stefan, replied, deadpan. "Most people don't go to hang out in graveyards, unless they have a morbid fascination with...dead people."

"Right," Elena nodded. Finding a girl like her wandering in the graveyard was a big tip-off that something was wrong. Suddenly something occurred to her, and she added, "Well, no. Technically we met in the men's room." She paused, and decided to pre-empt him before he could dig deeper. "You don't want to know. It's not exactly party chit-chat."

"Maybe I'm not really in the mood for chit-chat right now," Stefan replied.

Elena took a deep breath. She had no idea why she was about to tell Stefan what she was going to tell him, but somehow it felt…right. It was strange, but she had the weirdest feeling she could confide in Stefan and trust him not to be condescending or to pity her. "Last spring," she began in as steady a voice as she could manage, "my parents' car drove off of a bridge into the lake. And I was in the backseat and I survived, but. . .they didn't." She exhaled shakily, unable to meet Stefan's eyes. "So that's my story."

After a few moments she mustered up the courage to look Stefan in the eyes, and was relieved when she saw no pity or condescension in them, just sympathy, commiseration. Elena suddenly remembered him mentioning his parents had passed away and felt a surge of solidarity. Although his story might be very different from hers, he must know, at least in some ways, what she was going through.

Stefan seemed to consider, and then lightly brushed his hand over hers. "You won't be sad forever, Elena," he said quietly.

* * *

_**In the Woods, Near the Party **_

Vicki Donovan struggled weakly as her boyfriend shoved her up against a tree, his hands tugging at the bottom of her shirt as he kissed her roughly. The taste of beer was heavy on Tyler's breath, and the girl fought the urge to cringe away from him as moved his mouth from her lips and down onto her neck. His hands were firm and possessive as he pressed himself against her.

Vicki was no virgin, and she usually didn't object to hot sex, but tonight she…just wasn't in the mood. She was tired of throwing herself around, tired of being seen as damaged, tired of working long shifts at the Grill to go home to a house with no parents, tired of been seen as a failure, and basically just tired of being a screwed-over mess. Sleeping with Tyler Lockwood, the privileged Mayor's son was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

"No, Ty," Vicki got out between gritted teeth. "I'm not having sex against a tree." _Really, I don't want to have sex with you anywhere, anyplace right now. _

"Oh, come on," Tyler said with the careless confidence of one who is assured of getting what he wants, "it would be hot." He began to unbutton his shirt.

"For who?" Vicki blurted out before she could stop herself. Somehow, hearing her own defiant words out loud made her bolder. "No, it's not going to happen," she said firmly, shoving lightly at the football player's chest. "Not here. Not like this." _Not when you're drunk and just want some girl to screw. _

Tyler didn't seem to hear her; or, more likely, he chose to ignore his girlfriend's protests. He stuck a knee between Vicki's thighs, pinning her to the tree, and began unbuttoning her shirt. "No!" Vicki exclaimed, trying to pull away, but with the solid tree trunk at her back there was nowhere to run. "I said no!" she yelped as Tyler bit down on her neck, his hand sliding down inside her partially unbuttoned shirt. "Ow! That hurts!"

"Hey, leave her alone!" An enraged shout brought both Tyler and Vicki to sharp attention. Jeremy Gilbert stood a few feet away from them, fists clenched at his sides, a look of utter rage on his handsome face as he glowered at the shorter, but more muscular football player.

Tyler turned away from Vicki, yanking his hand out of her shirt as he did so. Vicki flushed as she began to quickly re-button her shirt, eyes darting between the two teenage boys. It wasn't like Jeremy hadn't seen her stark naked before, but she felt ashamed somehow being caught with Tyler by him, almost as if she had been caught giving something that belonged to someone else to another person.

"You know," Tyler spat as he stalked menacingly towards Jeremy, who stood his ground. "you're starting to get on my nerves, Gilbert."

Vicki jumped in before Jeremy could retort. "Just go, Tyler," she said, almost surprised by how cold her own voice sounded. "Get the hell away from me."

Tyler turned back to her, a look of incredulous annoyance coloring his features. "Wow. Vicki Donovan says no." His tone was full of mockery. "That's a first." With that, he whirled and stomped off, shooting Jeremy a venomous glare as he passed him.

With Tyler gone, Vicki turned to Jeremy, feeling defensive. She didn't understand why she was feeling this strange…uneasiness. Why did she feel as if she had to justify herself to Jeremy? "I didn't need your help," she said, trying to sound as haughty as she could.

Jeremy's eyes locked on hers. "It seems like you did." He shot back. "He was trying to rape you!"

"He was just drunk," Vicki tried to defend Tyler, knowing even as the words left her mouth that doing so was beyond pointless. Tyler _had _been trying to force himself on her, drunk or not.

"I'm drunk," Jeremy stated. "Am I throwing myself at you?"

Vicki felt tears rise in her eyes and blinked them away savagely as she glared at the boy a few feet away from her. "No, you're worse. You want to talk to me, get to know me, see into my soul and screw and screw and screw until you're done with me." Her voice had risen at least an octave by the time she was finished with her sentence, and Vicki knew she had just inadvertently spilled a lot of what she felt but tried to hide from the world. No one she had ever loved or trusted –except Matt, of course, steady, dependable Matt (what would she do without him?) –had ever turned out to actually be reliable. Everyone, even her mother, the absentee bitch, had ended up letting her down, had left her high and dry. Why would Jeremy be any different?

"Is that what you think?" Jeremy asked, taking a step towards her.

Vicki shied back, unable to meet Jeremy's dark eyes. "That's what I know."

* * *

_**On the Bridge **_

"I like Bonnie," Stefan said lightly as he and Elena gazed at the partying, and in general increasingly drunk, students from the bridge. "She seems like a good friend." _And a very powerful witch, too_ he added mentally, but of course kept that thought to himself. He had seen Bonnie doing her little 'psychic thing' with a glass bottle, and he knew that the young witch was barely beginning to tap into her powers. He would have to keep an eye on her as well, make sure she didn't get hurt. For the relatively good start his return to Mystic Falls had gotten off to, things were rapidly going downhill. If Stefan had had any doubts that Damon was in town, Bonnie's vision proved it. The fog, the crows, the animal attacks…it all had Damon's signature written on it big and bold. Stefan knew he would have to confront him some time or another, and he wasn't looking forward to it. But he knew he would have to—he had to keep Elena safe, and, if at all possible, maybe save Damon as well.

Beside him, Elena was nodding, smiling slightly. "Best friend in the world," she said, and he could hear the affection in her tone.

"Your older sister Maddie is really nice too," Stefan added, and then hesitated. "You two seem pretty close." In all honesty, Maddie unnerved him a little, for some odd reason. He'd been around her for only a few hours, but he'd seen right off the bat that she was super-protective of her younger sister, and more than a little suspicious of him. _Oh, Elena already gave me the scoop on your creepy little graveyard meeting. _Once again, Stefan couldn't help but wonder how much she did or did not know. He also kept having the nagging feeling like he had met her before, somewhere, or that he had met someone _like _her, but he couldn't remember who it was. That in itself was disturbing, but right now he had more pressing issues to worry about.

"We are," Elena replied simply. "She's less than a year older than me, after all—sometimes we're almost like twins. We've always been close, and I don't think I would've gotten through this past summer without her. We don't always agree—the way siblings do—but we always have each other's backs, no matter what."

Stefan felt a small pang as he listened to Elena talk about her obviously healthy, thriving relationship with her older sister. He and his brother had been that way, once. The friendship they had had deteriorated in a hurry once Katherine Pierce had come into their lives; however, and this fact had been the one of the ones that had finally convinced Stefan that Katherine was a total bitch who had had absolutely no good effects on either of the Salvatore brothers whatsoever.

Stefan pushed those thoughts away and continued in his little game of 'find out about Elena's family and friends.' "And Matt, he can't seem to, uh, take his eyes off us." The football player was one of the very few who was completely sober, and although he tried hard to hide it, Stefan noticed that his eyes kept wandering to the couple on the bridge.

Elena sighed. "Matt's that friend since childhood that you start dating because you owe it to yourselves to see if you can be more."

"And?" Stefan asked curiously. He'd already picked up on the fact that Matt and Elena weren't together anymore, but he wanted to know exactly _what_ had made them break up, and how long ago. It would give him an idea…what to do next.

"And then my parents died, and everything changes," Elena said, a little lamely. "Anyway, Matt and I, together we just, I don't know, it wasn't, um. . .it wasn't. . ."

"Passionate?" Stefan blurted before he could help himself, just as the wind carried a whiff of…vampire scent to his nostrils. _Familiar_ vampire scent. He tried as hard as he could to suppress the anger and agitation, but began to feel the tickling around and in his eyes as the veins began to rise to the surface anyway.

The brunette shook her head. "No. No, it wasn't passionate. . ." She trailed off as she looked into his face, and Stefan realized with horror that she could see his face…changing, in a way she had never seen any human's face change before. "Hey, um, are you ok?" she asked concernedly. "Um, Your eye, it just, it's-"

"Oh, um... " Stefan turned his head away and rubbed at his eyes with the palm of his hand, hoping he looked as if he just had some eyelashes in his eye or something equally benign. "Yeah, no. It's, um, it's nothing," he lied, turning away from Elena. "Um, are you thirsty? I'm gonna get us a drink." As quickly as he dared, Stefan turned and walked down off the bridge, cursing himself, and cursing Damon.

He was going to have to face him sooner than he anticipated, and far sooner than he would have liked.

* * *

_**In the Woods**_

Vicki leaned back against the tree, staring up at the darkening sky through the tree canopy. She suddenly had the insane thought that it might just feel good to go into a coma for a little while so she wouldn't have to deal with all the crap in her life right now…her absentee mother, her "relationship" with Tyler, and Jeremy's…feelings for her. Seriously, could a girl never get a break?

Crap, she really should have brought some pharmaceuticals with her to the party. The cheap booze some of the seniors had brought just wasn't cutting it.

Suddenly, Vicki noticed that fog was descending around the area and frowned. That was strange; Vicki had never seen fog in this part of the woods before. Suddenly, a twig cracked on the ground behind her, and Vicki spun around, pressing her hand to her chest as her heart kicked into overdrive. "Jeremy!" she called, hating the way her voice shook. "Jeremy, is that you?"

There was a sudden rush of wind, and then a hand clamped firmly over her mouth. Vicki tried to struggle, but an arm wrapped around her upper torso, pinning her arms to her torso with painful force, and Vicki's eyes could only water as she felt two sharp objects pierce into her neck.

* * *

A/N: _And I've now begun to deviate from canon, and things will get even more AU from here on out. Yes, I decided not to make Stefan a 'veggie' vamp (at least not exclusively), because they are kind of overrated. Twilight already did that, and I will openly admit I prefer Stefan when he's on human blood. He's perkier, more ruthless, more entertaining, and just generally better as a character. I liked him best in Season 1 when he was drinking human blood...and I am in LOVE with Season 3 Ripper Stefan. So yes, my Stefan is on a mixed animal blood/human blood bags diet, and that WILL have effects on his character. He isn't going to be nearly as self-hating, and he'll be more of a threat, because, Stefan IS a blood-a-holic, and we'll see how long he'll be able to maintain the control he has now. *wicked smile* Also, yes...Stefan has met Marcel before, and this will play a role in the story. Marcel is a VERY new character to TVD (he's only been in one episode), so the way I write him may end up being kind of different from the ways TVD ends up portraying him. I don't think it's unrealistic for Stefan to have had some friends other than his...canon ones from his Ripper days, and Marcel may end up meddling in Stefan's business...! _

_I also will not be rehashing the original TVD storyline on every point; that's been done enough. There will be other supernatural creatures included besides the ones canonized on TVD in this story, many new characters, and different plotlines. While Maddie will play a role in Elena's drama, she will have her own drama to deal with (I'm pretty sure you've all guessed by now that there's more to Maddie than meets the eye) and her journey may take her completely different places at times. Also, I will not be rushing Maddie into a romance. I feel like in almost every paranormal/fantasy story the female lead or leads aren't given the chance to shine without a guy somewhere in the picture, so I'm going to be doing things a little differently. I want the time to explore Maddie as a character unto herself, give her a chance to grow without any love interests in the picture, so no Maddie/Some Hot Guy yet. She WILL have her chance at romance, trust me, but it won't be happening yet.  
_

_I am considering giving Vicki a fate different from her canon one (thanks to SunThorn19 for giving me the idea, and check out her stories; they're *amazing*), but I am not quite sure what direction to take her yet. If anyone has any ideas for what could be done with Vicki instead of making her another number in the body count, PLEASE PM me or leave your ideas in a review! _

_An ENORMOUS thank-you to all who have viewed, favorited, followed, and reviewed! Your support means the world to me! So...please review? I'd love to hear your thoughts, opinions, and suggestions.:) If you want to talk, PM me! _

_Italian words:_

_Auguri, amico mio!=Greetings, my friend.  
_

_I migliori auguri=Best wishes.  
_

_Amico=friend _

_Ciao, _

_Sabre _


	5. Chapter 4 : Pilot : He's Back

**Chapter 4: Pilot: He's Back**

_I have a strong feeling that Mystic Falls is about to change irrevocably. _

_-excerpt from Amadeo Ricci's grimoire _

* * *

_**At the Party **_

Elena pondered as she mindlessly strolled amongst the partiers. It was _obvious _to her that Stefan had been making blatant excuses to leave her back on the bridge, but after all that had happened during this past summer, Elena was a little less quick to judge people for odd reactions that she had been half a year ago. She'd be lying though, if she didn't admit that she was literally _dying _to know _why _Stefan was fond of running off just when their conversations were about to get deep. It was _very _frustrating…and mysterious….

"Looking for someone?" Matt Donovan's voice brought Elena out of her reverie, and she looked up to see the blonde football player looking at her with a mixture of awkwardness and determination.

Elena's heart sank. Dealing with Matt was about the last thing she wanted to do right now. "Hey," she said a little awkwardly. Elena had never meant to hurt Matt by breaking up with him, but how could she stay with him when she had no longer felt any spark to their relationship? She knew it would not be fair to herself to stay in a romantic relationship with a guy she loved only as a friend; it was also not fair to _him_ to do that. Matt was one of her oldest friends, and he had deserved _honesty_ from her, even if the truth hurt.

Matt did not waste time with pleasantries. He dived right in. "When you broke up with me, you said it was because you needed some time alone," he paused, and then his voice took on a slightly accusing tone. "You don't look so alone to me."

Elena sighed. He _had _been staring at her and Stefan on the bridge. "Matt," she began wearily. "you don't understand. It's—"

"That's ok, Elena," Matt interrupted. "You do what you have to do. I just want to let you know that. . .I still believe in us." His face hardened a little. "And I'm not giving up on that."

He left before Elena could say anything, and the brunette pressed her fingers against her forehead. She could already feel a stress headache coming on. Why, oh _why_ did all of this drama have to happen at once? _Maddie doesn't like Stefan; Bonnie's having weird psychic visions that might just be real; Matt's mad at me now, and…_

"Boyfriend problems, _so_ not what you need right now," Maddie's voice broke Elena out of her reverie, and Elena turned to see her sister standing behind her with her hands perched on her hips, a thoroughly irritated expression on her face as she looked in the direction Matt had disappeared.

"What's up?" Elena asked, not wanting to discuss her drama with Matt at the moment.

"I came to find you because we need to find our wayward little brother," Maddie replied, crossing her arms. "He's probably _dead_ drunk somewhere and it's time to drag his butt home. I've been looking for him for the past half hour and I can't find him, _and _he's not answering my texts and calls."

Elena's heart sank as concern for her brother churned her stomach. She suddenly felt guilty for letting herself get carried away with Stefan; she should have kept an eye out for Jeremy. There were literally no chaperones at this party—no qualified ones, anyway—and it was the perfect place for their wayward brother to get into more of the trouble he seemed so adept at finding these days. "I hope he's not passed out in the woods somewhere."

Maddie smiled, and it was all teeth. "Too bad that's probably_ exactly_ what's happened. Let's go."

Maddie turned and began walking, and Elena followed her, scanning the partiers for her brother. She did not see him, but she did see Stefan, standing near one of the booze-laden tables. Presently, Caroline detached herself from a group of mildly intoxicated students and began sashaying towards him, smiling widely.

"_Wonderful_," Maddie remarked, coming to a halt so abrupt Elena nearly stumbled. "Caroline's going in for the kill."

"Hey! There you are," Caroline said brightly to Stefan. "Have you been down to the falls yet? Because they are really cool at night. And I can show you. If you want." She tacked on the last sentence after a definite hesitation; it was obvious she _fully _expected Stefan to come with her and giving him a choice was more of a _courtesy_ than anything else.

"And she goes straight to the bag of tried and tested clichés," Maddie remarked to Elena with mock sweetness. "Kidnap the guy, drag him to a secluded spot, and then see if you can score a liplock. Or better yet, a—"

"Shh!" Elena hissed as she watched the couple. Maddie cocked an eyebrow but didn't respond.

Stefan looked kind of bored. "I think you've had too much to drink," he said.

_Unfortunately for you, Stefan, the 'you're-too-drunk' trick doesn't work on Caroline. _Elena thought. _When she wants something, she goes for it with all her heart. _ Her prediction turned out to be right. Caroline's forehead wrinkled a little before she shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, of course I have. So—"

"Caroline," Stefan said, and this time his voice had a definite harshness to it. "You and me. It's not gonna happen. Sorry." He turned and walked away, leaving Caroline staring after him with an utterly _crushed _look on her face.

Maddie turned to Elena, her hazel eyes glowing with sarcasm. "Oops. Time to head down the 'break-up recovery road.'"

Elena cringed slightly, and began to say she was sorry that Caroline's feelings had been hurt, when Stefan walked up to them. "I was wondering who abducted you," she said to him. "Now I know who." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Maddie roll her eyes.

Stefan grimaced a little. "Is she like that with all the guys?"

"No," Elena shook her head firmly. "It's because you're new—she's actually a very caring, nice person. She didn't mean to be so aggressive, trust me."

"You've got to be kidding me," Maddie said, staring past Stefan. Elena looked in the direction Maddie was staring, and spied Jeremy slinking away into the woods. _Oh no. _

"Oh dear," Elena said out loud. "Stefan, I—"

"Ex_cuse_ us," Maddie cut in, moving past Stefan.

Stefan quickly looked back and forth between the two sisters. "What?" he asked.

Elena thought Stefan looked a little…suspicious, but she didn't have the time to ponder that now. She could sense Maddie's impatience; her sister already didn't like Stefan to begin with and was no doubt one step away from snapping at Stefan that it was none of his business and dragging Elena away with her. "My brother," Elena said quickly by way of explanation, already walking past Stefan to join her sister.

Stefan looked over his shoulder. "The wasted one?" he asked dryly.

"Yes. _Adios!_" Maddie answered, and began marching off towards the woods, Elena on her heels.

The two reached the woods in a few seconds, and Maddie yelled her Jeremy's name just as they reached the tree line. There was no response, of course, and Elena shared only a momentary look with Maddie before the two of them plunged into the woods.

Twigs and branches snapped under their feet as they entered the dimness of the trees and slowed a little to avoid tripping over roots or branches. Jeremy was only several feet in front of them, walking somewhat unsteadily but determinedly further into the forest. He had no drinks on him that Elena could see and seemed to have no apparent purpose for walking off alone into the woods at night. "Jeremy, where on earth are you going!?" Elena shouted.

"I don't want to hear it!" Jeremy called back, his voice somewhat slurred.

"Sucks to be you, then, little brother," Maddie snapped. "You're _wasted_, you're walking off into the woods to do God knows what, and you've been ignoring my calls! You're overdue for a big-sister lecture, if I do say so myself!"

Ahead of them, Jeremy stumbled—he was obviously quite drunk. He swayed slightly before falling to his knees into a large clump of bushes, and Maddie and Elena immediately increased their pace, picking their way through the overgrown weeds and bushes towards Jeremy. He pushed weakly at the ground with his hands, trying to stand, and then screamed, rearing back from something lying on the ground.

Elena felt cold all over as, heedless of the tripping hazard the tangled weeds at her feet posed, she charged the remaining distance to her little brother, Maddie right beside her.

There, lying on the ground, covered with dirt and leaves, shiny dark blood coating her neck and chest and leaking at an alarming rate from a wound on her neck, was Vicki Donovan. Her eyes were closed, and her face was dead pale.

For a moment Elena simply stood frozen, until her brother's face crumpled. "Vicki?!" he cried out, reaching one hand to touch the unmoving girl's tangled brown hair. "No! Oh my god, it's Vicki!"

"Somebody help!" Elena screamed without thinking, looking back towards the party frantically. Apparently, her scream was very loud, and they weren't that far from the party, as several teenagers detached themselves from the larger groups and charged for the woods. In what seemed like seconds they were surrounded by classmates, all exclaiming and cursing as they saw the bleeding girl on the ground.

Matt and Tyler pushed close to Vicki, Matt falling to his knees on the ground beside his sister's unmoving body as he frantically felt her neck for signs of life, apparently not caring that he was getting blood all over his hands. "Vicki! Vicki!" he called desperately, as if he could wake his sister up. "Vicki, wake up!"

"What happened to her?" Tyler said, staring at his girlfriend on the ground. For what a control freak Tyler usually was in almost every situation, he seemed to be at something of a loss at the moment, staring rather stupidly at Vicki's unmoving form, doing nothing.

Matt seemed to have a little more presence of mind, even though he was obviously more distressed than the other football player. "Someone call an ambulance!" he yelled.

Matt's galvanization seemed to snap Tyler out of his strange daze and he turned to the gathering crowd, waving his arms like a referee. "Everybody back up!" he called. "Give her some space."

"Use this to stop the bleeding," Marissa, one of Maddie's fellow seniors, said, stepping forward quickly and dropping the sheer light pink shirt she'd been wearing over her purple tank top into Matt's lap. "Something bit her and she's losing blood fast. You need to stop the bleeding!"

Matt complied, bunching up the light shirt and gently pressing it to his sister's neck with both hands. "Vicki, Vicki come on," he pleaded, and the brokenness in his voice pierced straight through to Elena's heart. "Open your eyes and look at me."

* * *

_**The Salvatore Boarding House **_

Stefan Salvatore was _furious _as he fairly stormed up the steps to his house, and he was having difficulty keeping his fangs from sliding out of his gums in agitation as he flung the door open, slammed it behind him, and marched down the entrance hall. He had intended to try to 'save' his brother when he had first begun to suspect that he was back in town, but right now all he felt like doing was snapping Damon's neck, throwing him in the family crypt, and keeping him there for…the next half century. Maybe more.

Stefan's anger and distress must have showed extremely clearly on his face he walked into the living room where Zach was sitting, because the man stood up immediately, a look of pure terror crossing his visage before he managed to control himself, clenching his jaw. "What's going on?" he demanded, and Stefan could hear the tremor in his voice, and _smell_ the pheromones of fear he was emitting. The smell made him hear Zach's heartbeat louder, made him more conscious of the blood flowing through his relative's veins, but he controlled himself. He was angry at Damon, not Zach.

Stefan smiled what he knew was his "Ripper" smile. "The rogue vamp in town attacked someone else tonight," he said, and watched carefully for Zach's reaction.

What little color remained in Zach's face swiftly drained away, and he pressed his whitened lips together. "What should we do?" he asked, though it was obvious he was really asking, _What should you do? _Town Council member or not, Zach knew that when it came to dealing with vampires directly, it was Stefan's job to do the staking, not his.

"Try not to get killed," Stefan said coolly, giving Zach a warning look. "Let me handle this. Whatever you may hear from upstairs, don't get involved," he shook one finger at Zach, giving him another "Ripper" smile, "not if you want to keep your spine intact. In fact, it might be in your best interest to get out of the house…now."

Without another word, Stefan turned on his heel and headed for the stairs, getting angrier by the step. He knew that Damon had attacked Vicki Donovan tonight…and then he had left her alive. Probably uncompelled too, which meant the girl could spill her guts, the Town Council could find out, and wrath would come down on both their heads. He was going to have to pre-empt the possibility of exposure, get over to the hospital later and compel any and all memories of vampires from the girl's mind. In short, he was going to have to clean up Damon's mess, and that made him _mad._ Good vampires at least cleaned up after themselves, but of course Damon just had to leave a mess for his little brother to clean up…

Upstairs, he flung open his bedroom door and gave the space a quick once-over…and saw the doors to his balcony were wide open. He _distinctly _remembered closing them before leaving for the party. Even more telling, there was a crow perched on one of his bedposts, staring directly at him with an eerie fixation.

Pressing his lips together, Stefan blurred over to his bed and grabbed the crow by the neck, ignoring its desperate fluttering. It tried to bite him, wings beating frantically and tickling his hand, but Stefan held its beak shut firmly between his thumb and forefinger. For a minute he considered snapping the crow's neck, but decided that it was not _yet _time to make a statement.

"Damon," Stefan said icily. His brother was so close he could _smell _him. The curtains on his windows fluttered slightly in the breeze, and then Damon strolled into view on Stefan's balcony, standing directly in front of the open doors.

Stefan took in his brother in all at once. He didn't look any different from when he'd seen him fifteen years prior, of course, still the same slender but well-toned build, light olive skin, tousled black hair and shocking arctic blue eyes. He was dressed in all black -casual black jeans, black boots, black button down shirt, and a black leather jacket. _Haven't changed much, have you, big brother? Still smart in black. _

Damon's icy blue eyes glowed with sadistic contempt, his eyebrows wiggling as one corner of his mouth curled upward in a sneering smile. "Hello brother," he drawled, dragging the word _brother _out with special emphasis.

Stefan did not respond to the greeting. After over one hundred years, he had learned to tell when Damon was baiting him, toying with him, and he refused to bite Damon's bait this time. His brother had made his life a living _hell _every time they'd met since they'd gone their separate ways soon after their transition in 1864, and Stefan sure as _hell_ wasn't going to let Damon get the upper hand now. Walking over to the open window, he tossed the offending crow outside and slammed the window shut, all in one smooth motion. Then he turned to his brother. "Crow's a bit _much_, don't you think?" he asked, jamming his hands into his back pockets, tone glacial.

"Wait till you see what I can do with the fog," Damon gloated, strolling into Stefan's room casually as if talking to his younger brother was something he did every day.

Stefan sneered at his brother. His time with Marcel in New Orleans had not been good for his moral character, but they had been_ very_ good for him as far as teaching him _most _of the tricks vampires were capable of. He _knew_ that fog trick; Marcel had found it amusing and used it on a regular basis. The Vampire King liked to make an entrance, and creating huge billows of fog certainly let him do that. "I've seen that trick before, Damon," Stefan said coolly, eyeing his brother. "The fog that day in the cemetery was actually what gave you away." That was a lie, but Stefan wanted his brother to think he had known he was in town for quite a while and had been keeping an eye on him. Sometimes, giving the _correct_ impression was, after all, all one needed to have the upper hand. "When'd you get here?" he asked in as bored a tone as he could muster.

Damon shrugged casually. "Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school," he replied mockingly, and then paused, looking his younger brother up and down with a critical eye. "Your hair's different," he remarked. "I like it."

"It's been fifteen years, Damon," Stefan said coldly. "Of course the hair styles have changed."

Damon completely ignored the insult. "Thank God," he said, rolling his eyes. "I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look? Did _not _suit you. Remember, Stefan," he said, shaking his pointer finger at his brother, and Stefan felt a pang as memories of a younger, human, _trustworthy_ Damon—his _brother_—wagging his finger at him after Stefan had done something particularly foolish rushed through his mind, "it's important to stay away from fads."

Stefan, again, refused to take the bait, and he was fast losing patience with Damon's word games. "Why are you here?" he snapped.

"I miss my little brother," Damon replied tauntingly, smirking, his eyes dripping with contempt.

"That was kind of a pathetic lie," Stefan said contemptuously, his lips curling. "Not to be a dick, but we don't exactly have a healthy brotherly relationship."

Damon's eyes flashed. "Your fault, _brother_," he said, spitting out the word "brother" as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

Stefan felt a deep pang as ugly memories rose to the surface, but he refused to show his distress. Affecting nonchalance, he casually strolled around his desk, uncorked one of the bottles of whiskey sitting there, and poured himself half a glass. Taking a sip, he studied his brother over the rim. "Are we back to _that_ again? 'How Can I Destroy Stefan's Life?' this decade? You know, I'm kind of surprised, and touched, that you came all the way out here _just_ to make me miserable. You hate small towns; there's nothing for you to do." _Except make me miserable. Please go away and leave me alone. _

"I've managed to keep myself busy," Damon replied smugly. He appeared completely unperturbed by his younger brother's insults, and though Stefan thought he had done quite well in this parley so far, he began to wonder if he was truly going to lose. But whatever happened, he was determined to make sure Damon left Elena alone, because he was pretty sure his brother knew about her already. He was going to act like Damon _didn't_, however, until he had proof that he _did_. There was no reason to tip his hand before the time, no reason to let slip to Damon about Elena while there was still a chance, no matter how slim, that he was ignorant of his existence.

Smiling his "Ripper" smile, Stefan glared at his brother over the rim of his glass. "Yes, you've been busy killing people in a town that has known about vampires since before we were turned. _Fantastic._ You know, you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you." There was also the chance that Damon had compelled the girl, but he thought it unlikely. It would be much more…_Damon_ to leave the mess for Stefan to clean up.

"Ah," Damon replied carelessly, obviously indifferent. "That can be a problem…for you."

_Great. So he's planning to make it look like I did it. _Suddenly, Stefan was sick of this word game. He wanted the truth out on the table where he could see it; that would give him the opportunity to begin to plan his next course of action. "Why are you here now?" Stefan demanded angrily. "Don't give me any crap about how you're here to fulfill your promise of giving me an eternity of misery, because I don't think that's a good enough reason for you to come back _here_."

"I could ask you why you came back to Mystic Falls too," Damon drawled. His blue eyes gleamed with a look of unholy glee as he casually slinked over to the desk next to his brother. "However…" he paused for a moment, holding his brother's gaze, and then, with a smile, snatched a knife off of Stefan's desk and plunged it into in Stefan's stomach.

Agony exploded in Stefan's midsection, his hands automatically going to his abdomen as he crumpled to his knees in front of his brother. He clenched his teeth against a scream of pain as tears of pain at anger at his brother for being such a dick and himself for allowing himself to get caught off guard burned in the corners of his eyes and threatened to spill down his cheeks. Groaning, he reached for the knife stuck in his stomach, but just moving his arm made the pain worse, and the smug look on his brother's face as he stared down at him was nearly unbearable. The last thing he had wanted was to appear weak in front of Damon, and here he was on his knees in front of him, impaled by a knife.

Smiling evilly, Damon reached down and yanked the knife out of his brother's abdomen, sending Stefan pitching forward onto the floor at his feet. He twirled the bloody implement around in his fingers before returning his gaze to his brother's anguished hazel eyes, "I'm fairly certain _your _answer can be summed up all into one little word. . .Elena."

* * *

_**At the Party **_

Elena stood stiff and silent as the paramedics strapped Vicki into a stretcher and loaded her into the back of the ambulance. Ever since May 23, 2009, ambulances had freaked Elena out. She didn't remember being loaded into the ambulance when the paramedics came for her and her parents that night, but knowing that she'd been in one of those things was still enough to make the familiar sight of the white vehicle with the flashing red and blue lights very unnerving. Her heart was pounding the way it would as a scary movie reached its climax, and the palms of her hands were cold and sweaty. Beside her, Maddie was fidgeting, twisting the carnelian ring Dad and Mom had given her for her sixteenth birthday around and around on her left ring finger. Ambulances freaked Maddie out just as much as they did Elena—she hadn't been in the accident so she had seen all the hospital drama with her own eyes, and Elena knew it still gave her older sister nightmares.

Matt climbed into the ambulance after his sister, the paramedics slammed the doors, and the rescue vehicle screamed out onto the road, heading for the hospital. Elena took a deep, shaky breath, unable to keep from wondering what it must have been like that night at Wickery Bridge…

_No falling apart now,_ she commanded herself, just as Bonnie walked up to them, her small face solemn. "Hey," she said quietly. "Caroline and I are going to go to Mainline Coffee, wait for news."

"Fine," Maddie answered, a little shortly. "Lena and I have a disgustingly wasted brother's butt to drag home."

Bonnie nodded, and then turned to Elena. "Elena, there's no way I'm psychic. I know that." She sounded more like she was trying to reassure herself than reassure Elena, and shivers ran down the brunette's spine as she remembered the glassy look that had come over her friend's eyes when she touched the bottle. "But whatever I saw, or I think I saw, I have this feeling…" she trailed off.

"Bonnie, what?" Elena could hear the definite edge of hysteria in her own voice, and she hated it.

Bonnie's dark hazel eyes were nearly glowing in the dimness. "That it's just the beginning," she said, her voice solemn. Before Elena could say anything else, Bonnie turned on heel and left.

* * *

_**The Salvatore Boarding House **_

Stefan tried to gather his wits as the wound in his stomach healed. He had suspected all along that Damon _knew, _but nothing was quite so horrible as hearing his brother spell it out. The vampire had a horrible feeling that his life had just taken a ginormous turn for the worse, and he clenched his fists in frustration and rage as he pushed himself to his hands and knees and then to his feet.

Damon obviously enjoyed the horror he could see in Stefan's eyes, because he smirked smugly. He put a hand to his chest and affected a swooning expression. "She took my breath away, Elena. She's a _dead ringer_ for Katherine. Is it working, Stefan? Being around Elena, being in her world? Does it make you feel _alive_?"

"She isn't Katherine," Stefan spat at his brother, his mind already racing ahead, grasping at what he could do to keep the human girl safe from his brother.

"Well, let's hope not. We both know how that ended," Damon's gaze was venomous as he stared down his brother. He paused, then switched subjects. "Tell me something, brother. When's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?"

At that, Stefan actually had difficulty keeping a smirk off his face. Last time they'd met, back in the nineties, he'd still been on the exclusively animal-blood diet, but that time was long gone now. But Damon_ thought_ he was still only eating bunnies, and Stefan immediately saw innumerable ways he could use Damon's ignorance of his _actual_ diet to his advantage. He knew he wasn't as strong as his brother, but he was stronger than Damon _thought_ he was, and Stefan took _extreme_ delight in the thought of giving Damon a _very_ unpleasant surprise when, and not if, they came to blows (which they sort of had already)…maybe even surprise_s_. But for now, it was important to make Damon _think_ he was still only eating deer. Affecting a wearied expression, Stefan gave his brother what he hoped looked like a half-hearted glare. "I know what you're trying to do, Damon," he said flatly. "It's not gonna work."

"Yeah?" Damon asked derisively, stalking closer to his younger brother. "Come on. Don't you crave a little?" He invaded his brother's personal space, holding his gaze, before pulling back quickly and punching him smartly in the solar plexus.

The punch, which wasn't very hard, didn't move him, and Stefan grinned inwardly, even as he kept his expression aggravated. "Stop it, Damon."

Damon's eyes gleamed with glee. "Let's do it. Together," he said in a loud whisper, as if he and Stefan were co-conspirators. "I saw a couple girls out there. Or just, let's just cut to the chase, let's just go straight for Elena."

Stefan set his jaw, anger boiling in his gut as he felt the skin beneath his eyes tickle and his gums ache. He had eaten many girls in his life, and he had decided a long time ago that it was time to stop feeling guilty about that, but he had no intention of violating the sense of conscience he had so far built up. The thought of eating Elena was truly repulsive, and it made him angry that Damon would suggest it, and the knowledge that Damon was suggesting it just to get on his nerves made him even _angrier_. "Shut _up_, Damon." His voice was a low growl, his fangs beginning to break through his gums.

"Imagine what her blood tastes like!" Damon said enticingly. "I can."

Stefan snapped. Anger pounded through his veins hotly, making him feel _powerful_, making him feel the burning need to do _something,_ and the veins beneath his eyes rose to full prominence as his fangs extended to full length. _Time for a nasty surprise, brother. _

Using his vampire speed, Stefan crossed the few feet between himself and his brother in the blink of an eye and grabbed Damon by his shoulders, slamming him back against the wall. He then jerked his brother forward towards himself and slammed his head _hard_ against the wood before picking him up bodily and flinging him through the nearest window with great force. The sound the glass made as it shattered and the way the window shards flew both into the room and outward in a sparkling shower gave Stefan great pleasure, and he immediately leaped through the new opening to land with catlike grace on the courtyard paving stones below.

In the courtyard, Stefan whirled back around to face the house and immediately came face-to-face with his brother. Damon looked largely unperturbed, but there was a nasty light in his eyes, and Stefan knew Damon would do his damned best to make him pay for this.

"I was _impressed_," Damon drawled casually, pretending to consider. "I give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face- thing. It was good."

Stefan crossed his arms casually, smiled his "Ripper" smile, and answered his brother the way he would have back in the height of his Ripper days, in the 1920s. "_Perfect_. That was exactly my intention—to give you a _pleasant_ surprise. You know, a little _brotherly_ present for our reunion, just like the...knife you stuck in my stomach earlier."

For a moment Damon stood expressionless, and Stefan wondered if he just might have caught his brother off-guard, but then Damon laughed mockingly, clapping Stefan on the shoulder. "Since when did you get _fun_, Stefan?" he asked. "Where are all the self-hating journal entries, the whining, the brooding? Elena must really be doing _great_ things for you," he finished, and an ugly light came into his eyes once more.

"This isn't about Elena," Stefan replied; he really did not want to discuss Katherine's look-alike with his brother, and that was still a sensitive subject. In all honesty, he didn't quite know what he thought about her yet. She was fascinating (Stefan was _burning_ to know why she looked exactly like Katherine) and very nice, but that was about it. "This is about me making a life for _myself_. A _new_ life. And I'd appreciate it if you left town…now. You're so much fun, but...people tend to die when you're around, if you know what I mean."

"That's a given," Damon replied casually, as if killing people was something that did not seem to him to be unusual or even slightly unpleasant.

"Not here," Stefan said coldly. He meant it. He wanted to start_ new_ in Mystic Falls, and he wasn't about to let his brother ruin what he had just begun. He hesitated, and then pressed his point. "Get the _hell_ out of this town, Damon. I'm done with this. I'm done with _you._"

"I take that as an invitation," Damon said, smiling.

"Then you're truly _pathetic_," Stefan said stingingly, aware that provoking his brother in this manner was probably not the best for him, but too angry to stop himself, "if you really have nothing better to do than play 'How Can I Destroy Stefan's Life This Decade?'"

The moment the words had left his mouth, Stefan knew he had made a _mistake_. Damon's face transformed in the blink of an eye, and the next thing he knew, he was flying through the air. He hit the garage with great force and dropped to the ground, but Damon wasn't done with him yet. Stefan's head snapped to the side as Damon punched him hard in the face. "I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word," Damon hissed as he drew back his fist to punch Stefan again. But this time, Stefan was ready; he rolled away and shot to his feet, tensing as he prepared to fend off his brother.

Damon looked like he was going to go after him again, and then seemed to change his mind as an evil smile crossed his face. "Where's your ring?" he asked.

Somewhat startled by the odd question, Stefan glanced down to his right hand and saw, to his horror, that his daylight ring was no longer there in its customary place on his ring finger.

"Oh yeah, sun's coming up in a couple of hours, and, poof, ashes to ashes," Damon gloated, obviously reveling in Stefan's discomfort. "Relax," he dangled the talisman in front of him between his thumb and index fingers. "It's right here."

"Give it back," Stefan demanded, feeling his stomach sink even as he prepared himself to fight his brother to get his ring back if necessary.

Damon chuckled, nonchalantly tossing the ring up into the air before catching it in his palm again. "You should know better than to think you're stronger than me," he gloated. "You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people. I wouldn't try it again." Smirking, he tossed the talisman at Stefan.

Stefan caught it and replaced it on his finger, narrowing his eyes at his older brother even as a small part of him rejoiced in the fact that Damon didn't yet know that he wasn't exclusively on animal blood. "Maybe I'm weaker than you," Stefan replied, "but if I were you...I'd still watch my back." _Because I am NOT going to let you ruin my life. Either you change or you leave town. _

"_Such_ brotherliness," Damon said, affecting a hurt expression, and began turning towards the house. "Let the good times roll."

_Yes, of course, at my expense. _Stefan watched his brother walk slowly, arrogantly towards the house, into his life, into his town, and suddenly remembered the thoughts he'd entertained on the way home about snapping Damon's neck. _It might make him angrier at me, but it'll also show him I mean business, _Stefan thought. _Plus, a little payback would feel good…_A "Ripper" smile crossed Stefan's face at that thought, and he made his decision.

Blurring up behind his brother, he swiftly grabbed Damon's head between his hands and jerked sharply to the side in one well-practiced move. There was a crunching sound, and Damon went limp and began to crumple, seemingly in slow motion.

"My _pleasure_," Stefan said smilingly as Damon thudded to the asphalt of the courtyard, out cold. "Maybe I'm not as weak as you think I am, big brother."

* * *

_**At the Woods **_

Maddie was seething as she and Elena made their way towards where they had seen Jeremy last. She knew anger was probably not the best way to approach Jeremy right now, but she couldn't help herself. Jeremy had heard all the rules, all the warnings, all the horrible stories about alcoholics and druggies a zillion times in his life, and yet he continued to destroy himself with chemicals. And he wasn't just destroying himself—he was dealing drugs and helping other kids destroy themselves too. Most of their friends had been relatively sympathetic to the Gilbert kids for the past few months because of the loss they had suffered, but Maddie knew sympathy didn't last forever. Dealing drugs was _illegal_ , not to mention morally wrong, in her opinion, and Jeremy was going to get himself into a world of trouble if he didn't quit this behavior. Goodness, the freaking _police_ had been here tonight! Jeremy had been the one who found Vicki; what if they had asked him to give a statement? She was beginning to regret what a loose leash she'd left on her brother during the summer—she should have gotten more on his case, been a little more observant. Maybe then he wouldn't be screwing himself over the first week of school—and helping other kids to screw themselves over.

After a little bit of wandering, Maddie spotted Jeremy sitting with his back against a tree, sipping a beer. She heard Elena sigh behind her, and mutter something under her breath, but Maddie was too angry to pay attention. Stomping over to her brother, she reached down and tugged hard on the beer bottle as Jeremy lifted the bottle to his lips for another swig. "Give me that," she snapped.

Jeremy glared at her and held the bottle tighter. "You can't tell me what to do, Maddie."

"Tough luck," Maddie said sarcastically. She gave a huge tug on the bottle, and since Jeremy was drunk, he wasn't able to hold onto the bottle as tightly as he might have. She wrested the beer bottle from her brother, swiftly emptied it onto the ground at her feet, and then threw the bottle away from her as hard as she possibly could, for once forgetting that such behavior was littering. She derived a perverse satisfaction from seeing how far she could throw the bottle—apparently her arms were still very much in shape. Jeremy watched her destroy his beer, and then put his head in his hands.

Elena, of course, took the softer approach. She knelt on the grass beside her younger brother and touched his arm gently. "You okay?" she asked. "I called Jenna, she's on her way." Elena paused, shooting Maddie a quick look, and then plunged ahead. "Those people in uniforms, last time I checked, they're the police. People are going to stop giving you breaks sometime, Jer."

_Exactly. _"Dealing drugs is _illegal_, baby brother," Maddie said icily, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring down at her drunken sibling. "And don't give me any bull about not being a dealer—I heard you talking to that _dude _in the hallway yesterday. Guess what?" Maddie knelt down on the grass and looked Jeremy in the face, but he wouldn't meet her eyes. "You. Are. Screwing. Yourself. Over," Maddie spoke slowly, emphasizing each word carefully, hearing the anger in her tone. She saw Elena shoot her a concerned, almost admonishing look, but she ignored it. She was _so _done playing nice with her brother—it was time to go harsh, or else he'd truly have to suffer through the school of hard knocks. The rehab folks, she knew, would be a lot less nice that she was. "Yeah, our dad and mom died. Sucks big time, I get it. But Elena's right. The little 'we've suffered a great loss,'" Maddie made air quotes with her fingers, "excuse is getting a little thin. You _have _to move on and get your act together."

Jeremy was silent for a few moments, and then he raised his head and glanced between his sisters' faces. "I've seen you in the cemetery writing in your diary, Elena," he said, his voice slurred but defiant. "Maddie, you sat on your ass listening to sad music all summer and not talking to anybody." His voice rose. "Is _that _supposed to be you 'moving on?'"

"That's different!" Elena exclaimed, just as Maddie felt her face burn with shame and rage.

"Journaling and music are in a completely different category from doing drugs and drinking," Elena said sternly to Jeremy. "If you had been burying yourself in art I would've approved of that."

"Whatever," Jeremy struggled to his feet, and then swayed. Standing up quickly, Maddie caught his elbow and steadied him, and then Elena came to Jeremy's other side and took his other elbow. He tried to shake them off, but both held on tight, and eventually he gave up the struggle.

Just then, Maddie's phone rang, and she dug it out of her jeans pocket and checked the caller ID. "Jenna," she said unnecessarily, and then looked across Jeremy to Elena, knowing her eyes must be burning with anger. "Let's get our boozy brother to the car."

Elena nodded, and the three set off.

* * *

_**The Mystic Grill**_

Bonnie tried not to fidget as she sat beside Caroline at the counter, turning her phone around and around in her hands. It might be a little ridiculous, but Bonnie couldn't deny the fact that she was scared. She _knew _ she had seen something when she touched Elena, although she was trying hard to convince herself that it was just the result of stress and her overactive imagination, and now Vicki Donovan had gotten hurt…by something, or someone. Bonnie knew it was highly unlikely she could have gotten her neck gashed open by walking in the woods, and as far as Bonnie knew there were no bears or panthers in the woods around the falls. Even if there were, a wild animal would not have gashed Vicki's neck open and then just…left. Bonnie was no expert on animal behavior, but she knew enough to know that animals did not do _that_. The only explanation for Vicki's injuries was that _someone_ had done it, and Bonnie didn't know who would be crazy enough to gash a girl's neck open and then just leave her. Maybe some homicidal crazy-person had escaped from a mental asylum somewhere and was gashing open innocent girls' necks in the woods? Or maybe Vicki's injury was the handywork of a sane psychopath who just liked to hurt people? Either way, the prospects were disturbing, _very _disturbing.

And as if all this drama wasn't enough, Elena and Maddie's brother was rapidly turning into a full-blown drug addict and alcoholic, and he was _sixteen. _Bonnie had always seen Jeremy as kind of her younger brother as well, and she was worried the guy was going to end up in juvie or in rehab if he kept up this behavior. She knew Elena and Maddie were doing their best to keep him under control, but Bonnie could tell that both the sisters were nearing their wits' end when it came to their brother's vices.

_I think I was right when I told Elena this was only the beginning, _the girl thought. Sighing, she turned to Caroline beside her, who was staring vacantly ahead, sipping at a coke. "Are you sober yet?" she asked wearily.

"No," Caroline said, glumly.

_She must be really depressed. Caroline NEVER gives one-word answers to any question. _"Well, get sober fast. I gotta get you home, and I've gotta get me home too." Bonnie really wanted to go home now, but she knew she should probably drop off Caroline first, and she knew that Sheriff Forbes would _not_ be pleased to see her daughter tipsy. Bonnie had known Caroline all her life, and while the Sheriff didn't seem to have much time for her daughter, she _did_ come down hard on Caroline whenever she caught her in "misdemeanors." This approach was a little harsh, in Bonnie's opinion, but at least Sheriff Forbes _cared_ about her daughter enough to scold her when she came home drunk or did something stupid, instead of not calling or caring at all, like Bonnie's mother.

"Why didn't he go for me?" Caroline suddenly asked, in a plaintive voice, and Bonnie's heart sank. She _so_ did not want to deal with this right now. Caroline turned toward her, her big blue eyes sad. "You know, how come the guys that I want never want me?"

"I'm not touching that," Bonnie said, shaking her head, aware that she probably sounded a little insensitive. Caroline should be talking to…Maddie about this stuff, not Bonnie. Maddie would sympathize…sort of, and then give her some straight talk about how she was too young to be putting such a premium on catching hot guys yet, and that she didn't need a guy in her life to be complete in and of herself.

"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing," Caroline said sadly. "And . . . Elena always says the right thing. She doesn't even try! And he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks, for everything. And I try so hard, and . . . I'm never the one."

"It's not a competition, Caroline," Bonnie replied. "Maybe you should, um, talk to Maddie about this?" _She'd give you some nice feminist advice. _

"Yeah, it is too a competition," Caroline said defiantly. "And Maddie will just give me some feminist crap about how I shouldn't be chasing guys._ And_ she'll take Elena's side, because she's her sister! It's not fair!"

Bonnie groaned. She was right; this was only the beginning. She was also beginning to have the strangest feeling that this Stefan guy was bad news. He'd been here exactly two days, and already he was changing the dynamics of the safe, trusted friendships which had been in place for as long as Bonnie could remember. Bonnie appreciated hot male real estate, but in her opinion, any guy who threatened to destroy BFF relationships was bad news. _Major _bad news.

* * *

_**Mystic Falls Hospital **_

Matt Donovan had never felt so worried in his life as. The doctors had bandaged Vicki up and said she would be fine, and according to them she would be waking up around…now. Part of him was worried about who exactly had done this to his sister (and wanted to pound the crap out of them), but the greater part of him was just worried for his sister's welfare. Vicki was the worse of the two of them at taking care of herself, even though she was older, and as their mother had gradually drifted out of their lives he had found himself taking care of Vicki more and more. He felt rather like he was looking at his younger sister, than at his older sister, as he sat tight and stiff in a chair beside his sister's hospital bed, waiting for her to wake up.

At last, Vicki's eyelashes fluttered and her eyes opened, and Matt felt relief pour through him like a tidal wave, making his knees feel weak. "Vicki…it's ok," he said, hoping to prevent any possible panic or freaking out. "You're gonna be ok."

"Matt—" Vicki began, her voice thick and somewhat slurred, but Matt cut her off quickly, placing a calming hand on her hair.

"Hey, don't try to talk, ok? You're fine."

Vicki shook her head fractionally, as much as she could with the heavy bandages on her neck. "Vampire," she slurred, before her eyes drifted closed once more.

_Vampire? _ Matt thought, his forehead wrinkling. What had Vicki been watching or reading lately? He tried to figure out what would make his sister think, much less talk about, vampires, for a while, but eventually just shrugged and gave up. He'd talk to her later, when she was awake. At least now he knew she would be fine.

* * *

_**Gilbert Residence **_

Alone in the living room, Elena opened her diary and twirled her pen around in her fingers for a few moments. Jenna and Maddie had gotten a drunken Jeremy upstairs and into his bedroom once they'd arrived home, and then Maddie had gone upstairs to her room and slammed the door _hard_, and was no doubt currently buried in a book with her ear buds in her ears. Jenna was in her room, probably working on college papers or worrying about her charges or doing both at once. Or _trying _to do both at once.

Elena sighed, and began to write.

_Dear diary, I couldn't have been more wrong. I thought that I could smile, nod my way through it; pretend like it would all be ok. Without the pain. But it's not that easy. The bad things stay with you. Jeremy's addictions are getting worse, and Maddie is beyond angry right now. She's sick of dealing with all this crap, and frankly I am too. Vicki Donovan got…attacked by something, or someone, tonight. Bonnie tried to do some psychic stuff on me, and she said she saw a crow, fog, and a man, just like I saw in the cemetery when I met Stefan. Then she tried to deny it was real, but later she told me she has a feeling this is 'just the beginning'. What could this all mean? Whatever it is, I have a feeling it's bad. _

_All I can do, I guess, is be ready for the good. So when it comes, I will invite it in when it comes , because I need it._

* * *

_**Twenty Minutes Later **_

Elena sighed, tossing and turning in her bed as she tried to get to sleep. She'd gone to bed about…fifteen minutes earlier, but so far her attempts at getting some quality shut-eye had all been for naught. Whenever she closed her eyes she kept seeing Vicki's pale, blood-soaked form, or the look of anger and hidden anguish in her brother's eyes, or the look of fury on Maddie's face as she told Jeremy he needed to move on and stop "screwing himself over."

_Maybe I should stay up a while longer to get myself a little more tired first, _Elena thought, and tossed back the cover. Tucking her long hair behind her ears, she tiptoed out of her room and down the stairs into the kitchen to get a glass of water. At the counter, she turned on the light and took a glass from the cupboard, filled it with water, and walked to the window overlooking the porch.

Presently, the porch security light flickered on, and Elena's eyes widened as she made out Stefan Salvatore standing on the porch. Feeling oddly happy to see him there, despite the very late hour, she crossed to the door and opened it. "Hi. What are you doing here?"

Stefan flashed her his adorable fanged smile. "I know it's an unholy hour to be visiting, but I wanted to know if you were okay."

Elena felt her face flush as her heart warmed. Even though she would never admit it, it felt…really _nice_ that Stefan cared enough about her welfare to come to her house just to check if she was okay after all the crap that had gone down tonight. She mustered up a smile. "You know, for months, that's all most people have wondered about me. If I'll be ok."

Stefan's hazel eyes gleamed in the dim glow from the security light on the porch. "What do you tell them?"

Elena shrugged. "That I'll be fine, of course. What else is there to say?"

"Do you ever actually mean it?" Stefan asked, and Elena smiled again. The guy _knew _what she was going through—after all, he had mentioned that he had lost his parents, just like she had. He _knew_ that when most people asked a bereaved person if they were fine they didn't actually want to hear how they were. They just wanted the person to say, "Yes, I'm better," or "Yes, I'm fine," so they could put their consciences to rest.

"Ask me tomorrow," Elena replied, a little coyly, and then paused. _All I can do, I guess, is be ready for the good. So when it comes, I will invite it in, because I need it. _She cocked her head to one side, and then made a decision. She pushed the door open a little further. "It's warmer in the house," she declared, "We can talk more inside…if you want. Do you want to come in?"

Elena held her breath, and her heart leaped as Stefan smiled. "Yes."

* * *

A/N: _And we're even further down the AU Highway now. I hope you all enjoyed the changes I made to Stefan and Damon's confrontation...Stefan and Damon are so fun to write when they are being mean to each other. As I said, Stefan's diet is making his character a bit different than it was on the show. He's less brooding, has a hotter temper, is meaner, and just generally less of a goody two-shoes...to the point where he's willing to snap his brother's neck to make a point. As you might expect, Damon is not happy about that little neck-break, and he will get even. Oops. Stefan is also not going to be wallowing in self-pity in this story, nor is his entire life going to revolve around Elena. He wants a new life, and he may very well do drastic things to ensure that he gets that new start, that new life that he wants. He doesn't want his brother messing up what he's started, and he is going to show it. I have really enjoyed Damon's canon character arc, so there will be less, if any changes to his character, at least immediately, but since some circumstances will be different...Damon may end up doing and saying things a bit differently than on the show. Don't worry-he's one of my favorite characters, and I will be doing my best to keep him true to his character. If any of you thinks he is becoming even the slightest bit OOC-PLEASE tell me in a review or PM me! So...with that thought...I'd REALLY like to know what you all those of the Damon/Stefan confrontation. Does Stefan seem very OOC? Did the confrontation seem too violent, or too low-key? PLEASE tell me what you think-your opinions and thoughts mean the world to me! _

_And as for the Gilberts...Maddie isn't very happy with her little brother, is she? We'll see where this will go later.:) And what is Maddie going to think of Stefan and Elena's budding relationship? Things are about to start getting more AU; there will be a big revelation in 'Night of the Comet' (though it may not be very dramatic, it will have serious repercussions). I am really excited to share what I have planned with you all, and I hope you enjoy it. I would love to hear your suggestions, thoughts, and speculations!:)_

_BTW-did anyone else think the season finale delivered in every way possible? Elena chose Damon (I KNEW she was going to!), Katherine of ALL people is HUMAN, Matt is going to be traveling with Rebekah, Tyler is going to be coming back but Klaus is determined to win Caroline's love and Stefan is SILAS'S DOPPELGANGER! And the younger Salvatore is currently starving, dessicating, and drowning repeatedly at the bottom of a lake. Poor Stefan. I have some theories about Stefan's doppelganger status. Either there is a bloodline of Silas Doppelgangers, like the Petrova Doppelgangers (because nature had to counteract Silas' immortality right away; I don't think it suddenly decided to counteract it over 1800 years AFTER Silas became immortal), OR...he could be a reincarnation. Crazy idea, I know, but it would be SO cool if Stefan has actually been reincarnated over and over for 2000 years. Plus, it would avoid a rehash of the bloodline thing. If anyone wants to talk the Silas/Stefan mess, PM me!:)_

_A great big thank you to all who have viewed, followed, favorited, and reviewed; your support means the world to me and I appreciate it with all my heart. _

_So. I've come across a few authors who do this, and I've decided to do it too. Of what am I speaking? Well, some authors I've come across make a habit of recommending one story in their author's note whenever they post a chapter, and I want to do it too. My recommendations will come from a variety of fandoms, as I read a bit widely. Today, my recommendation is..."The Red Space Between Us" by Stilwater Rundeepo. It's an Avengers fic, but the characters are set in Berlin, Germany, during the Third Reich. Thor and his parents are Aryans, and Loki is their adopted Jewish son. Check it out-it is *amazing*! _

_See you later,_

_Sabre _


	6. Chapter 5: NOTC: Suspicions

**Chapter 5: The Night of The Comet: Suspicions**

* * *

_Don't try to figure certain things out if you don't think you're strong enough to handle the truth. _

_-16-year-old Grayson Gilbert to 14-year-old Miranda Sommers_

* * *

**In the Woods, At a Campsite **

"Hey," Abby said, sitting up on top her blue sleeping bag. "Did you hear that?"

Abby's boyfriend Jason looked up from where he was rummaging around in his bag for granola bars, flipping long strands of sandy-blonde hair out of his sharp blue eyes. "Hear what?" he asked.

His sweet Texan drawl sent shivers up Abby's back, and she smiled a little coyly as she faced him with a fake pouty expression. "I heard thunder," she sighed. "I think it's going to rain."

Jason frowned slightly, cocking his head to one side a little as he listened. There was silence in the tent for a few moments, and then he shook his head. "I don't hear any thunder, darlin'. But maybe your ears are sharper than mine."

Abby shrugged a little. "Maybe I just imagined it, then. I hope so, 'cause if it rains we won't be able to see the comet." She had really been looking forward to seeing the comet with Jason—she kind of saw it as the highlight of their 'couple's camping trip'—and it would really be too bad to have it ruined by the weather.

"Don't worry," Jason said, tossing a granola bar at her as he winked playfully. "It won't rain." He hesitated, and then seemed to make a decision. "BTW, I got you a gift. It's in the car. I'll go get it now—maybe that'll help to take your mind off the possibly impending precipitation."

Abby grinned. _What could he possibly have gotten me? _She wondered excitedly, even as she winked back at him. "Sure. Stay dry."

Jason stood up, pushing back the tent flap as his blue eyes glowed with excitement in the dim light of the electric lanterns in their tent. "Be right back, cupcake."

Jason left, and Abby flopped back against the softness of her sleeping bag as anticipation churned in her stomach. Jason normally wasn't the gift-giving type, so she was pretty excited to find out what he'd gotten her. Jewelry? Concert tickets? Books? She lay there on her back for a while, imagining what he might have bought for her, until she suddenly realized that he'd been gone for a while—longer than it should have taken him to walk to the car and come back, unless the gift was something that required elaborate preparation or assembly.

About the same time she realized just how long Jason had been gone, Abby heard something dripping on the roof of the tent. _Oh crap, I was right. It's going to rain. _

Annoyed, and oddly worried, Abby pushed open the tent flap and stepped outside. Fog billowed around the tent in huge gusts, and Abby coughed as she squinted into the muggy darkness, trying to make out Jason's form against the trees.

Just then, there was a whoosh of air, and someone grabbed Abby's left arm in an iron grip. She screamed and tried to jerk away, but another hand shot out and grasped her right shoulder, jerking her back against a solid chest. She screamed again, clawing at the air, but her screams went unheard and she dimly heard a satisfied, sadistic-sounding chuckle—right before two sharp object pierced into her neck.

Abby continued to cry out and struggle as whoever was holding her sucked and sucked, sucking blood from her veins, but she was too frightened to even gather up the presence of mind to form coherent thoughts, much less words. Her struggles and cries grew weaker as her attacker continued to drain her blood, and in a few minutes she was limp. When her attacker had drained the last drop of blood from her body, he tossed her corpse on the ground and smirked down at his handiwork before vanishing into the woods unseen.

* * *

**The Gilbert House **

_Dear diary, this morning I feel different; I feel as if change is coming. I actually almost don't dread leaving the house and starting the day. Talking to Stefan last night really made me feel better. _

Elena couldn't help smiling as she capped her pen, shut the cover of her journal, and placed it in her backpack. She was still a little surprised at just how long she had ended up talking to Stefan last night, and at how meaningful their rambling conversation had been to her. When she had invited him in, she had estimated they'd talk for anywhere from half an hour to forty-five minutes, but Stefan had ended up staying a full _three_ hours, and not once had Elena felt tired of him or felt the urge to make him go. In fact, she had been rather disappointed when Stefan finally, _reluctantly_ pointed out that it was very late and he had better leave if either of them were to get even a little bit of decent sleep.

It was odd, Elena reflected, how therapeutic their conversation had been for her, because they hadn't discussed many "deep" subjects, even after her confession of sorts to him at the door. Instead, Elena had ended up sharing lots of funny little anecdotes, family jokes and stories from before her parents died with Stefan, and he had regaled her with funny stories about some of the trips he'd taken to Europe with his family before his parents had passed away. His candor, easy laugh, humor, and adorable fanged smile had brought more genuine smiles to Elena's face in _three hours_ than all her family and friends' efforts to comfort her had in the past week combined (or at least it _felt_ that way) , and when he had left, she had been left with a feeling of…alertness, of aliveness that she hadn't felt in a very long time. Despite how mysterious he could be, Elena had decided that Stefan was…one of the most utterly _alive_ people she had ever met. You just had to get close enough to him to see the life that was literally _bubbling_ out of him.

Just thinking about him was enough to put a smile on Elena's face, and she was almost humming to herself when she finally opened her bedroom door and stepped out into the hall with a definite spring in her step. She was just about to pass Jenna's bedroom when the door to her aunt's bedroom flew open and Jenna appeared in the doorway, looking about as nervous as Elena would expect her to if she was about to face a jury.

Elena stopped, frowning as she took in Jenna's flustered appearance, and her high spirits began to dampen. "Morning, Aunt Jenna. Is something wrong? You look...nervous." She suddenly remembered how drunk Jeremy had gotten last night, and her heart fell, her earlier cheer beginning to evaporate as a sense of foreboding enveloped her. _Please tell me Jeremy's not in trouble, _she prayed silently as she watched for her aunt's reaction.

Jenna took a deep breath, smoothing down the skirt of her purple floral-printed dress. "Do I look adult?" she blurted, her face reddening a little the words left her mouth. "As in respectfully..._parental_?"

"Um…" _Where on earth did THAT come from? _"It…depends on where you're going," Elena answered rather noncommittally after a moment of thought.

If anything, Jenna looked even more nervous at Elena's words. "I'm going to Jeremy teacher-parent conference," she explained, smoothing her hair. "Hair up or down?"

Before Elena could answer, Maddie's bedroom door flew open and Elena's older sister marched towards the other two ladies wearing what Elena had years ago dubbed "the I-am-top-bitch face." Her older sister was rocking a knee-length white dress, wide black belt, mini black blazer, and black flat-heeled booties this morning, and Elena couldn't help thinking that her older sister had effortlessly nailed the look Jenna was aiming for (without success, so far), as the elder Gilbert strode over to her aunt and ushered her back into her bedroom, nodding at Elena as she passed by.

Elena shut her eyes for a moment, and then followed Maddie and Jenna into Jenna's bedroom just in time to see Maddie authoritatively grab a brush off Jenna's dresser and begin running it through her aunt's hair. "Hair down, Jeremy's teachers will think you're a boozy housewife who leaves dishes covered with disgusting dried scrambled eggs in the sink every morning. Hair up, they'll think you _might _just have it together. Add some flaming red lipstick and six-inch heels, and they'll think you look like a sexy businesswoman who's got her stuff together and is ready to kick some _serious_ ass—"

"If I wear six-inch heels," Jenna interrupted, "I'll probably fall down and look stupid and non-parental, not kick-ass."

"Five and a half inches then," Maddie replied as she began expertly braiding Jenna's hair. "Or five and three quarters. _Nothing_ less than five inches."

"You're feisty today," Jenna sighed.

"I'm _always_ feisty," Maddie rolled her eyes, her earrings swinging. "I am the top bitch..."

"Where is Jeremy, anyway?" Elena asked, breaking into Jenna and Maddie's banter. While Maddie's remarks were amusing, Elena could detect a definite undercurrent of tension beneath her sister's 'I'm unflappable and in-control' demeanor, and she made a mental note to continue to keep an eye on her. In spite of the fact that Maddie _hated _admitting she needed emotional support, Elena knew full well that her sister wasn't exactly having a picnic and, whether or not she wanted to admit it, she needed _Elena_ there for her probably just as much as Elena needed _Maddie_ there for her. And as for Jeremy…she almost didn't want to know where he was, because she was pretty sure that he was not at home. And these days, when Jeremy was not at home…he was most usually up to no good.

Jenna began to turn from the mirror to answer Elena, but Maddie hissed at her and she froze, gripping the edge of the dresser as Maddie reached for a bobby pin in the container on the vanity. "He left early," Jenna answered Elena carefully, and then paused before adding, rather hesitantly, "He said something about getting to the wood shop early to finish a birdhouse."

"That's such a lame lie," Maddie said, voice dripping with mockery, "Couldn't he have been a little more…c_reative_? Maybe like, 'I'm going to serve breakfast to homeless people at the soup kitchen,' or 'I'm going to sketch by the river,' or maybe…'I'm going to sell drugs and give the money to feed poor children in Asia' That's a _nice charitable _one, if I do say so myself."

Elena groaned. Almost all of her earlier optimism was gone now, and even though she knew it was not a good way to react to all of this, Elena couldn't help but feel angry at her brother for running off to do something he probably wasn't supposed to do—mere _hours_ after she and Maddie had had a serious talk with him. Would he _never_ see reason? "The wood shop is fictional," she stated, "and the birdhouse is fictional too."

Jenna sighed as Maddie put another bobby pin in her increasingly elaborate braided bun. "I suspected as much."

* * *

**Mystic Falls Hospital**

Jeremy clenched his hands into tight fists as he pressed one cheek against the cool glass of Vicki's hospital room. Although he was suffering from a pounding headache due to his hangover, he'd made the effort to get up early today, before Jenna, Maddie, or Elena got up, so he could leave the house in peace and make his way to the hospital to check on Vicki. His sisters would no doubt be _furious_ with him when they got up and found that he'd left the house, but Jeremy didn't care. He…_had_ to know if Vicki was okay, even if it meant angering his family…and returning to the one place where the entire nightmare that was currently his life had started in the first place.

Jeremy had never particularly cared for the hospital, just like any other teenage boy; he hated the poking and prodding that went on whenever he visited the place for yearly check-ups (even though his father was a doctor), and the... _clinical_ smell of the establishment made him feel positively sick. But his casual dislike for the hospital had turned into outright _hatred_ on May 23, 2009, when he'd been summoned here on the night of his parents' deaths. Jeremy had heard some people remembered horrifying experiences as a blur of images and sounds because the mind blocked as much of the awfulness as possible in order to cope, but obviously his mind didn't work that way, because he remembered everything that had happened that horrible night with shocking clarity. Every sight, every smell, and every sound from the night of May 23rd seemed burned into his brain, haunting him wherever he went, _no matter_ how much he drank or how much he got high. He could still see Elena pale and unconscious on the hospital bed hooked up to tubes and needles, could still see Maddie pulling her hair, throwing everything in sight she could possibly get her hands on as she screamed and sobbed uncontrollably, as if were happening all over again. Jeremy would never tell them, but those horrid images were some of the first things he saw whenever he talked to his sisters these days…he saw them at their worst and lowest points, and it _hurt_. It was one of the main reasons he avoided them these days.

But he had braved all the horrible memories to see Vicki, and now here he was, waiting for some nurse or staff to come by to let him into her room. As a matter of fact, Jeremy was of two minds about seeing Vicki here now. He was afraid that if he saw her, the image of her current condition would be immortalized like those of his sisters', that whenever he saw Vicki all he would be able to see would be her pale and unresponsive on the hospital bed. Vicki was one of the few bright spots in his life, and he couldn't bear to see the image he had of her ruined. But on the other hand, he _had_ to see her. He doubted Tyler, the douchebag, would care enough to visit her in the hospital, and while he was almost sure that Matt had slept over here last night…he thought Vicki needed as much care and support as she could get. She needed to know that people _cared _about her, and _he_ sure cared. So he stayed there against the window, until at last a nurse opened the door from inside, stepped out into the hall…and saw him standing there.

Before he could lose his nerve, Jeremy pushed off the wall and approached the nurse with what he hoped he was a confident expression. He hoped he didn't look too hungover. "May I go in to see her?" he asked quickly.

The nurse gave him a once-over with sharp blue eyes, and then shook her head kindly. "I'm sorry. You can't go in there, hon. Visiting hours don't start till nine o'clock."

Jeremy blinked for one moment, suddenly remembering that small fact about visiting hours. His shoulders slumped in disappointment, but at the same time, a small part of him was vastly relieved. But he still wanted to know how she was doing. "I…I just…how is she?" he asked, his voice sounding oddly quiet and off-pitch to his own ears.

The nurse looked grave, shaking her head again. "She's lost a lot of blood," she stated, "but…"

"But she's gonna be okay, right?" Jeremy broke in, a little desperately.

The nurse nodded. "She'll be okay…eventually. She needs her rest. So you come back _later_, alright?"

* * *

**The Gilbert House **

As she ate her breakfast smoothie, Maddie seethed at her younger brother, thinking up things to say to him (some of them quite nasty, and some which included strong language) when she got ahold of him later, and tried to plan her impending Inevitable Annoying Conversation with Elena, which would take place in the car on the way to school in a few minutes, provided the world didn't end first.

Maddie had had trouble getting to sleep last night, much like Elena, infuriated by Jeremy's behavior and irritated by Elena's association with Stefan as she was. Stefan had been nice to Elena last night, sure, but Maddie didn't like him. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was just something about the guy that felt…_wrong_. So she hadn't been too pleased last night when Elena had _invited Stefan into the house _and then talked to him for _three frickin' hours_. With her sharp ears, she'd heard Elena going downstairs about half an hour after her bedroom door had shut, and she'd been surprised and suspicious when the porch security lights had suddenly flickered on a few minutes later, as she _hadn't _heard the front door open. She'd gotten up, grabbing her infamous Baseball Bat for Burglars (one could never been too careful, after all), and sneaked down to the first landing, only to hear Elena open the door and talk to, of _all_ people, _Stefan Salvatore_. After all his pretty talk about being concerned about her, Elena had invited him in to talk. Maddie had been sorely tempted to march downstairs and order the boy off the premises, but she'd decided against it. After all, she had to remember, Elena was _only_ a year younger than she was, and_ perfectly_ capable of taking care of herself. She'd always known her younger sister to be a relatively good judge of character, and she trusted that if Stefan turned out to be creepy, her sister would kick him out or scream bloody murder. So, scowling, she'd stalked back up her bedroom and spent the next three hours tossing and turning in her bed. She'd seen the porch security light turn back on as Stefan left, and only then had she been able to force her exhausted body into unconsciousness.

Maddie knew she ultimately had to leave the whole Stefan-thing for Elena to deal with, but she still intended to have an older-sister-talk with her first. And then, of course, she had to talk to Caroline…the girl was in dire need of a session of Feminism 101. She loved her friend, but the girl had looked pretty pathetic running after Stefan the way she had. It was obvious she thought having a boyfriend would remove her insecurities and complete her as a person, and Maddie saw it as her duty to get that _very_ stupid idea out of Caroline's head before it got her into even bigger trouble.

* * *

**Twenty Minutes Later **

"So," Maddie said slyly to her younger sister as she pulled their SUV of out of the driveway, "…is Stefan a good kisser?"

Maddie couldn't help but smirk as Elena's choked. She knew her sister had been _expecting _her to ask some questions about her midnight talk with Stefan, but she definitely hadn't expected the icebreaker to be so…sexual. Maddie couldn't help but give herself a mental pat on the back for being able to send her sister a ball out of left field

Elena found her voice just as their car reached the end of their block. "Look, Maddie, it's nothing like that…" she shook her head, giving Maddie a slightly pleading look.

Maddie smirked. "That's what the girls in those juvenile, sucky chick novels, TV shows, and movies always say…ten minutes before they're making out like there's no tomorrow with the Guy In Question."

"Stefan and I just talked," Elena insisted earnestly. She gave Maddie a slightly reproachful look. "Do you really think I'd start making out with a guy two days after I met him?"

"Nope," Maddie replied. "That's Caroline. I know you're not a super slut…"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Elena huffed. "We just talked, I swear. About our families; he told me lots of stories about family trips he had before his parents passed away, and I did the same. We talked about books we've read, movies we've watched…"

"That's all?" Maddie demanded before she could stop herself.

"That's all, I swear," Elena assured her, and then her tone turned a bit sarcastic. "Do you need me to give you a verbatim recital of our conversation?"

"No thanks," Maddie shook her head. She really didn't want to come off as one of those uncool control-freak older sisters, and she decided right then that she was going to crack the 'Stefan case' by getting information straight from the grapevine, rather than wrangling second-hand intel from Elena. _I know Elena's telling the truth, and I feel kind of like one of those bored, desperate housewives who live for nothing but gossip, grilling her about her talk with Stefan, but I can't shake the feeling that that guy's trouble. And what was it Bonnie said last night? That it's only beginning? _Suddenly remembering the solemn look on her sister's best friend's face, Maddie felt chills run down her spine. Something was wrong here, she was sure of it, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it…

"Hey, Elena," Maddie said, "remember what Bonnie said about it 'just being the beginning' last night? What do you think she meant?"

Elena's brow wrinkled in genuine consternation, and she bit her lip as she stared out the windshield. "Yeah, that," she said, sounding as if she was half talking to herself. "I don't quite know what she meant, honestly, but it gives me the creeps thinking about it now. I was too upset by the Vicki fiasco at the moment to really think about it."

"And?" Maddie prompted. Maddie knew Bonnie pretty well (she and Elena had been best friends since kindergarten and after all, Bonnie was her friend too) but Elena definitely knew her better and she wanted to see what her sister thought about the whole thing before she made her own conclusions.

Elena turned to face Maddie, still looking confused…and a little uneasy. "I'm not really sure what she meant by that. You know, Bonnie's been doing the whole magic-slash-psychic thing since the year started. I thought she was just being funny or just, I don't know, having a fandom thing or something, but she tried to see my future yesterday and she actually looked like she saw…something. Her eyes went all glassy and everything, and she seemed really freaked out."

The hair on the back of Maddie's neck stood up as she narrowed her eyes. "Did she tell you what she saw…or what she thought she saw?" _Either Bonnie's really got some powers, or the girl needs a psychiatrist, _she thought. _And she's always seemed so sane…something seriously creepy is definitely going on, and I HAVE to find out WHAT. _

"Well…when she touched me," Elena fiddled with the handle of her purse, "she said she saw fog, a crow, and a man…"

Maddie felt as if someone had dumped an entire bucket of ice water down her back. "Elena, I swear something's wrong here! Remember, at the cemetery when you met Stefan, it was all foggy and a crow landed on Dad and Mom's headstone, and you saw Stefan hiding in the shadows of the mausoleum? It can't be a coincidence that Bonnie sees that...only a day after it happened!"

Elena's eyes widened, and she began to look slightly frightened. "Maybe Bonnie really is psychic…"

"Psychics are supposed to see what happens in the future, not the past," Maddie corrected automatically. "I think we need to call the Paranormal Containment Agency," she widened her eyes for emphasis.

Elena gave Maddie a fond, slightly exasperated look. "You really liked that book _Paranormalcy_, didn't you?"

"It was an okay book," Maddie replied, "I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. You seriously don't understand how serious this 'Bonnie situation' is. The way I see it, there's one of two possibilities here. Either the girl is _one hundred percent_ witch, and we don't understand what she's seeing cause we're all Muggles, or she's fifty-percent insane and needs to see a psychiatrist." Maddie didn't particularly like either option, but what could she do? She was getting more sure by the second that things that were definitely not normal were going on here.

"Bonnie's not insane," Elena defended her best friend immediately, even as she chuckled at Maddie's _Ha__rry Potter_ reference (Maddie had adored the_ Harry_ _Potter_ series since she'd started reading the books at age twelve, and at eighteen she was still a fan), "but you do kind of have a point…"

"I always do!" Maddie interjected.

Elena ignored that. "However, I'm sure there's a logical explanation for all of this. Your imagination has been…stimulated by all those fantasy novels you read over the summer."

_That's what you think,_ Maddie thought rather mutinously. _I have a 3.9 GPA, little sister, and while I might be imaginative, I'm not illogical. It's NOT an accident that Bonnie went psychic, witchy, or insane (or all three) and…Stefan Salvatore arrived in town all around the same time. If you were paying a little more attention to the examples books set for us, you'd know that weird things happening all at the same time is a DEFINITE indication that something is…off, or that something BIG is about to go down. And I'm going to find out what it is, even you aren't interested in my theories. _

Out loud, Maddie said, "Maybe you're right…there's a logical reason for all the weird stuff suddenly happening in our little town. Maybe Bonnie's not a psychic witch or whatever—"

"—or crazy," Elena said firmly.

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Or crazy. Bonnie's always seemed pretty sane to me, so that possibility's probably ruled out." _Maybe. _"With the witch theory, there's one little problem…"

"What?" Elena asked, sounding slightly wary.

"Why didn't she get her letter from Hogwarts years ago?"

* * *

**Mystic Falls High School, During First Period **

Maddie had first period free, and so did Caroline (the blonde had, of course, closely examined both her and Elena's schedules during lunch on the first day of school so they could know when to hang out together during school) so she set off to find her best friend once the first bell had rung. Weird things might be happening in Mystic Falls, but friendships still had to be given the proper attention, and Maddie personally thought Caroline was way overdue for one of her Boy Talks. The events of last night had more than proven _that_ fact.

She found Caroline at the big bulletin board in the front hall, taping up a huge, brightly colored sign-up sheet for cheerleading try-outs. Half-idly Maddie wondered if Elena would be cheerleading this year as she'd done her freshman and sophomore years of high school, or if she'd let sports remain by the wayside where she'd left them over the summer.

"Hey, Caroline," Maddie said, sidling up to her friend.

"Maddie!" Caroline placed the final piece of tape on the poster and stepped back to admire her handiwork. "What do you think of it?"

"Uh…" Maddie glanced at the bright yellow sheet, adorned with, in her opinion, an excessive amount of pink glitter, sequins, and miniature pom-pom cut-outs (and that was saying something, as Maddie was a 'glitter-girl' herself), "…it's great. Very eye-catching. Practically screams at any girl walking by, 'Sign Up for Cheerleading or You're Not Cool!'"

"Oh, you think so?" Caroline smiled brightly and gave Maddie a quick side-hug. "That's what I was aiming for. Cheerleading is _so_ important at our school and I think we need to give it the proper attention. A big, fancy sign-up sheet entices more people to sign up. With me as captain, our team is going to kick ass this year. No more unexcused absences from practice or not giving it your all, both physically and mentally." She paused, and then tore her gaze from her…_artwork_ to stare directly into Maddie's eyes. "Are you coming out for cheerleading this year?" she almost demanded.

Inwardly, Maddie ground her teeth. This had been the chant every year since Caroline had started cheerleading in middle school: _Maddie, you must cheerlead. _And Maddie wasn't interested, never had been interested, and probably never would be interested in bouncing around, yelling rousing rhymes and shaking pom-poms. Sure the flipping was cool, but that wasn't something she didn't already know how to do—she'd been a gymnast all the way through seventh grade, when she quit in favor of becoming an acrobatic dancer-and acro also involved flipping and such. Cheerleading just _wasn't_ her thing. "For the zillionth time, Care, I. Am. Not. A. Cheerleader. Should I say it in French too? _Je ne suis pas une majorette._"

Caroline scowled slightly, linking her arm through Maddie's and starting down the hall, Maddie allowing her to pull her along. "But you could be so _good _at it. And it'd be the perfect sport to do during your senior year, to show your school spirit!"

Maddie rolled her eyes. Trust Caroline to think of _that_ angle. _Too bad for YOU that argument isn't going to work on me. _"Nice try, Caroline. But no. I'm thinking of starting dance again, and I'm going to be in ensemble again, so I'm not going to have the time."

"Have it your way," Caroline huffed, and then perked up. "Want to make a quick run to The Coffee Spot for a coffee? I'm sure we could manage it."

Maddie smirked a little. There was a small coffee shop barely a block from Mystic Falls High School, and the authorities had long ago found out that it was pretty much pointless to try to stop students—especially juniors and seniors—from sneaking out during free periods or lunch to grab a quick snack or drink. Some of the school authorities had years ago tried to shut down the joint (to no avail, of course) and instead, a sort of unspoken rule had developed at the school which stated that it was all right to go and get something at The Coffee Spot during a free period or lunch, _as long as you did not get caught. _Going to The Coffee Spot during school hours _only_ became wrong if you did so during a period when you had a class or _got caught _leaving during a free or lunch; otherwise, the school mostly turned a blind eye to the immense amount of business the coffee shop down the street got. Maddie, Elena, and Caroline had been taking_ full_ advantage of this unspoken rule throughout their high school careers.

"I wonder if the staff at Starbucks had started stocking vodka," Maddie said darkly as she and Caroline strolled towards the exit. "I think I need ethyl today, not caffeine."

"Why?" Caroline asked, shooting Maddie a concerned look.

_Gotcha. _Satisfied that she had Caroline's full attention, Maddie began, "Caroline, about the 'Little Stefan Fiasco'," she made air quotes with her fingers, "last night..."

"Oh, that!" Caroline quickly looked away from Maddie's sharp gaze. "Don't worry, I'm over that already. I mean, he and Elena are so _cute_ and all, and anyway I was just trying to be _nice_. New kid nerves and all…he kinda needed somebody to show him the ropes. But looks like Elena's got that covered."

Maddie narrowed her eyes at her friend as they emerged from one of the side entrances of the high school into the sunny morning. "Friends don't lie to friends, Caroline. I _know_ you were into Stefan, probably still are; we all knew it. I mean, it was kind of hard to miss with you practically falling over yourself to flirt with him every opportunity that came along. It sucked when Stefan shot you down publicly, and I think you need a little…consolation," Maddie squeezed her friend's arm slightly, and then added sweetly, "And a Boy Talk."

"Uh huh?" Caroline still didn't meet Maddie's eyes.

Maddie snatched a quick breath. "Care, the way I see it, you're insecure, and you're trying to find a hot boyfriend thinking he'll make you feel like a complete human being. Sorry, though—it's not going to work. You have to be confident in yourself before you can really have a healthy relationship."

"I'm not insecure," Caroline said defensively. "If I was insecure, I wouldn't be class vice president and captain of the cheer team."

"The fact that you're flaunting those...accomplishments shows you're insecure," Maddie fired back. "Look, Care, you're smart, pretty, and have a great personality. You don't need a boyfriend to be an awesome person, 'cause," she shrugged a little, "you are already."

"Thanks for the votes of confidence," Caroline said brightly, "but I'm over Stefan, I _swear_. And trust me, I'm _not_ looking for a boyfriend so I can be...complete. I just….like hot boys, you know?"

"You're boy-crazy," Maddie said, rolling her eyes. _It's pretty obvious you just don't want to listen, do you? _

"Always have been, always will be," Caroline replied. "I saw the hottest guy at the Mystic Grille last night…"

Maddie's heart fell. _Oh, goodness. Did this girl not hear a word I just said, or what? _"Caroline Forbes, didn't you hear a _word_ I said? Do you really think it's a good idea to chase another guy right after you just got shot down by the new hot guy in front of half the senior class?"

Caroline pouted. "I was just looking. Looking can't hurt, can it?"

"_Looking_ turns to _lusting_," Maddie said darkly. "_Lusting_ turns to_ liking_. _Liking_ turns to_ liplocking_…and _liplocking_ will, in due time, lead to _lovemaking. _What did the guy look like, anyway?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Caroline said, ignoring Maddie's indignant snort. He was about your height, maybe a little taller. Wearing all black. Black hair too…and I think he might have had blue eyes."

Maddie was _disgusted_. Caroline could probably describe the guy in _much_ greater detail but was holding back for fear of wearying Maddie—or having her get interested in Aforementioned Hot Guy, and Maddie knew her friend well enough to know that if Caroline could describe a guy in great detail, it usually meant it was into him. Caroline_ literally did not see_ the guys she was_ not_ interested in, _even if_ _they_ were interested in _her_. Maddie was probably just wasting her breath; her nicely planned Boy Talk was going straight to hell. "You obviously aren't listening to me."

"I am!" Caroline protested. "Trust me, I'm not going to screw up again. I'm _not_ going to throw myself at that guy—anyway, I don't even _know_ him. I've never seen him before; I don't have his number or anything and I'm not sure I'd call him even if I did."

Maddie snorted at that. _Right. Like you really wouldn't. _"I give up. You're just going to have to learn from your own mistakes."

Caroline truly looked hurt. "I'm _not_ a ditz, Maddie. I am learning from my mistake with Stefan. I'm going to be very, very careful with the next guy I date, I swear. I'll tell you everything that happens on every date…"

"Ughhhhh…yuck. I really don't need to know about the texture of your boyfriend's lips," Maddie sai., and then shook her head as Caroline giggled. Caroline had a mind of her own, and while Maddie admired and encouraged strong-mindedness, it could be a _real_ pain in the ass when certain strong-minded people were set on doing things their own way. Caroline was set on finding a hot boyfriend for junior year, and Maddie might as well shut up, because Caroline obviously wasn't listening to her, even if she _said_ she was.

The two girls walked in silence the rest of the way to the coffee shop, but Caroline renewed the conversation just as they crossed the threshold into the establishment. "Hey, Maddie, what did you think of that recent animal attack?"

Maddie blinked as the door swung shut behind them. "What animal attack?"

It was Caroline's turn to shake her head. "You obviously haven't been paying much attention to the news lately, have you?"

The brunette glared at the blonde. "Mmm, my life's not exactly been like a fat couch potato's lately. Haven't had the time for hours in front of the TV and flipping through the _Mystic Falls Daily. _Sorry?" her apology came out sounding very sarcastic.

"Well, Mom's deputies found this couple ripped apart on some back road a couple days ago, and it was on TV. Being the sheriff's daughter, I'd already got the scoop before the whole thing got into the newspaper and TV, but I never got to ask you what you thought of it. But, it obviously didn't matter, because you didn't even know about it."

"Sorry I'm not in the charmed circle," Maddie said sarcastically. "But, just shows it's a bad idea to go into the woods in the middle of the night without a mini atomic bomb on hand. Or a mini hydrogen bomb"

Caroline chuckled. "It's my mom's job to make sure terrorists and bad people like that stay out of our town, so I don't think you'd be able to take a bomb with you into the woods to deal with bears and panthers."

"Uh huh," Maddie said, but she wasn't really listening to Caroline. Her analytic mind was putting even more pieces together. Bonnie started having her psychic/witch craze that might or might not actually be real, Stefan had arrived in Mystic Falls, and there had been some crazy animal attack all around the same time…Maddie didn't want to seem superstitious or anything, but there had to be a reason that all these weird and bad things were all happening around the same time. _They're connected somehow…I just have to figure out HOW. _

Suddenly, Maddie remembered something else. "What do you think about what happened to Vicki last night?" she asked Caroline as they moved up in the line towards the counter.

Caroline frowned and seemed to genuinely consider the question. "You know what, I don't really know. Maybe it was an animal attack too. Whatever it was, it sure was creepy."

"Seriously, did you pay attention in biology class, Care? An animal big enough to take Vicki down so easily-I saw her clothes, no sign of a struggle-wouldn't just bite her and then leave her. There wasn't any fur or animal drool on her either, actually. In fact, I think it was some psycho person with a knife. Much more logical explanation than some stupid animal attack."

"You can't be serious," Caroline said incredulously. "Psychos with knives don't exist here. This is Mystic Falls, remember? Nothing bad ever, ever happens here."

Maddie clenched her teeth. She felt she was onto something here, and then her best friend just had to go and pull that delusional-happy argument out of nowhere. While Mystic Falls certainly was peaceful, Maddie wasn't naïve enough to think that _nothing_ bad ever happened here. Before she could stop herself, she said coolly, "If nothing bad ever happens in this cute little town, then tell me why my parents' car randomly drove off Wickery effing Bridge into the lake last spring."

Caroline had the decency to look _truly_ abashed. "I didn't mean it like that, Maddie. I meant like people doing bad things on purpose."

Maddie knew that, but sometimes Caroline's obliviousness to some things _really_ got on her nerves. "Well, I think we have a psycho in town now," she said in a low voice.

Caroline squeezed her arm reassuringly. "Then Mom will be right on it. No psycho will last long in Mystic Falls with her and her deputies on the job, okay? Don't worry, and just remember to lock your door at night."

_Oh, really, _Maddie thought cynically. _Sorry Care, but Miss Sheriff Forbes seems to be the type of sheriff who spends more time breaking up high school parties where underage students are drinking booze and smoking crack and ticketing people for parking on the wrong side of the road than chasing and handcuffing actual psychos…mainly because there aren't any actual psychos in town to throw in jail._

_But...maybe there is one now. _

* * *

_Author's Note:_

_So...this chapter felt really slow-moving to me as I was writing it, but also sets some important building blocks as well. Maddie has a very analytic mind, and we may be seeing more of that later as she continues to put the pieces together. She probably isn't going to remain in the dark about the existence of vampires much longer.:) And she'll find out about other supernatural beings as well. _

_I would really like to know what you all thought of Maddie and Caroline's scene...first real glimpse into their friendship, unfortunately it wasn't that positive! In regards to the romances...I will say that the Stefan/Elena story is going to be different than on TVD; after all, the 'canon' story has been rehashed a zillion times in Gilbert Sibling fics and I really don't want to go down that same road. They will be friends first, and we will see where things go from there. As for the Stefan-Elena-Damon love triangle...I am sure that I am not going to include that love triangle in this story. Why? I REALLY REALLY hate how first Katherine, and then Elena, got in the way of the Salvatore brothers' relationship. Katherine messed up their once excellent sibling relationship, and...in a lot of ways, Elena made it worse. I really want to focus more on the relationship between Stefan and Damon in this story; therefore, Elena will not be getting in between them._

_ As for Maddie...well, I would like readers' opinions on who you want her to (eventually) develop an attraction to. Damon? I'm seriously considering Damon/Maddie, but pairing the Gilbert Sibling with Damon is, shall we say, 'default' for Gilbert Sibling stories and I'm not sure if I want to go down that road, as attractive as it is. Elijah? The cool and collected Original with fiery Maddie could be very very interesting, I think. Kol? The charming but slightly...ah, unpredictable Original with Maddie could make for some great chemistry. Marcel is definitely an option too...in fact, for reasons I will not yet reveal, Marcel WILL develop a, ah, *fascination*, with Maddie later on. _

_Also, who would you readers like to see with Bonnie? For one thing, this story will NOT go down the 'Beremy' (Bonnie/Jeremy) road. I felt that pairing, while certainly cute, was kind of a cop-out, a reason to, shall we say, keep Bonnie 'local' and not expand her horizons both romantically and adventure-wise. Speaking of adventure, Bonnie is going to have her own adventures in this story. I really feel that the writers of TVD have kept her on FAR too short a leash, never allowing her to have adventures that are not somehow connected to Elena's...but that's another story. Bonnie is going to have her own storylines that are distinctly HER own later on in this story, problems that are hers and hers alone. So...would you readers like to see a 'Bamon' (Bonnie/Damon) pairing? Recently I was talking with another TVD fan and began to see the allure of that pairing...and it would give 'Awake at Nightfall' a whole new spin. What about 'Kennett' (Kol/Bonnie)? That pairing is really nice too, IMO. Of course, the thing with Original pairings is that we'd have to wait longer to see them appear in the story, as the Originals don't really come in until Season 2. But I'm thinking that's a good thing...Bonnie and Maddie will stay single for quite a while, which allows me to give them all sorts of crazy adventures in which they will get to shine by themselves and not have to worry about 'relationship problems' (because, as we know, romantic relationships are always complicated on TVD!) _

_Oh, and never fear, Elena will have her own stuff to deal with as well. I think it is just a little lame to have her only adventures revolve around her doppelganger status. Isn't it kind of sad that her 'powers' are powers that she cannot actively use, that are of no use to her as a person (in fact they have brought her nothing but trouble)? While TVD is a great show, for all that the main character is female, some of the underlying messages are just a little misogynistic...but again, that is another story. (If you want to talk feminism and TVD, PM me, PLEASE!) In any case, Elena will have some adventures (if I can work them in) that are NOT at all connected to her being a doppelganger, even if she's just kind of being dragged along into Maddie or Bonnie's drama. _

_Okay, that author's note was insanely long. I apologize. Reviews feed my very hungry muse, so...please review? Thoughts, criticism, and especially suggestions, are all very welcome. _

_Oh, and for my fanfiction recommendation...'we'll be counting stars' by abbyli. Great story about the Salvatore brothers. _

_Thank you, and all of you have a wonderful day (or night)!_

_Sabre _


	7. Chapter 6: NOTC : Vampire?

**Chapter 5: The Night of the Comet: Vampire? **

_Once you get close to the truth, it is difficult to back away from it. _

_-Amadeo Ricci_

* * *

**Mystic Falls High School, Mr. Tanner's History Class **

Mr. William Tanner casually tapped his long wooden pointer against the palm of his right hand, his dark eyes roving over his class, as he spoke in a clear voice. "Originally discovered nearly five centuries ago, it hasn't been over Mystic Falls in over one hundred forty-five years. Now, the comet will be its brightest right after dusk during tomorrow's celebration." He paused, and a rather ugly light lit his eyes as his eye fell upon two students in the back row, who appeared to be surreptitiously whispering to one another as he lectured. "Mr. Salvatore?" he asked sweetly. "Ms. Gilbert? Are we bothering you?"

Instantly the two students tore their gazes from one another and faced the front of the class, listening with faked rapt attention. Mr. Tanner opened his mouth to make another scathing remark, but he was prevented from doing so by the ringing of the bell which signaled the end of the period, and the two teens were able to make a quick escape out into the corridor before Mr. Tanner could impugn them further.

_In the hallway outside Mr. Tanner's classroom _

"Brought it," Stefan said, rummaging around in his backpack and digging out a beautifully bound, well-kept, obviously old book and handing it to Elena.

Smiling, Elena opened the book and flipped through the first few pages, and she couldn't quite stop her eyes from widening as they came to rest the publication date. "Wow, this book is _really _old!"

Stefan gave her a roguish smirk. "Told you," he said in a spectacularly accurate imitation of a British accent.

Elena ran her hands almost reverently over the cover of the book. She'd _loved _old books for as long as she could remember, and back before her parents died one of her hobbies had been perusing the aisles of quaint shops in Mystic Falls for copies of old classics she liked. "_Wuthering Heights _by Ellis Bell," she murmured, turning the book over to look at the cover again. She glanced up at Stefan. "You know, I almost can't believe Emily Bronte didn't use her real name. If I'd written a book back in the times when women writers weren't so…ah, well-accepted, I'd have wanted everyone to know I wasn't willing to accept the status quo. Kind of make a…statement, you know?"

"The book probably would've had crappy sales then," Stefan countered dryly. "But you kinda have a point about making a statement."

Elena nodded. "I think my sister actually wrote a paper about prejudice against women writers in past centuries and how it affected the literature produced during that time period," she remarked, and Stefan's eyebrows rose a hair. "But that's another story." She glanced down at the book in her hands again. "Where did you get this?"

Stefan shrugged a little. "It was passed down through the family."

"From some of the past Salvatores?" Elena asked curiously. As a member of a Founding Family herself, Elena was quite familiar with the tradition of handing down various heirlooms through the decades.

"Yup," Stefan replied easily.

"Well, thanks for letting me look at it," Elena said, and made to hand the book back to Stefan, but he did not take it.

"I have lots of books," Stefan said easily. "Keep it."

Elena flushed at his generous offer. The more she saw of Stefan, the more she liked him. He was _such_ a gentleman…though that aura of mystery remained. She hadn't come close to really figuring out what made him seem so mysterious though—he _seemed_ like the average good boy who had been taught excellent manners by his mother. "Oh no," she said swiftly, though she would have _loved_ to add this book to her small collection of old classics. "But…" she stumbled over herself slightly, "I'd like to read this book again. I'll return it as soon as I can."

Stefan shrugged. "Okay."

* * *

_Elsewhere in Mystic Falls High School _

"I'm confused," Caroline remarked to Bonnie as the two girls walked towards their second-period Honors Pre-Calculus class. "Are you psychic or clairvoyant?"

Bonnie shook her head slightly as she considered how to answer Caroline's question. She'd initially dismissed Grams' words to her as superstitious crap, but as the hours went by Bonnie couldn't help but become _more _and _more_ convinced that the old woman was, indeed, actually _telling the truth_. Though she'd tried to convince herself otherwise, as far as she could tell the visions she had seen last night at the party had been _very real_, and Bonnie hadn't been able to shake the feeling of…_evil_, of something _horrible_ and _twisted_ lurking in the darkness, when she'd seen Vicki's pale, blood-soaked form on the ground. She still didn't believe it was an animal attack; the whole thing looked too…_ intentional_. But, Bonnie wasn't about to admit her suspicions that Grams was right to anyone quite yet, _especially_ not Caroline. There was _no _telling what the girl might do with the information. "Technically, Grams says I'm a witch," Bonnie said, trying to make it sound as if she was joking. "My ancestors were these _really_ cool Salem witch chicks or something. Grams tried to explain it all, but she was looped on the liquor so I kinda tuned out. Crazy family, yes. Witches? I don't think so."

Bonnie thought Caroline looked a tiny bit disappointed that she hadn't confirmed she had supernatural powers or anything. "Yeah, well," she muttered, sounding as if she was talking to herself more than to Bonnie, "feel _free_ to conjure up the name and number of that guy from last night."

Bonnie's heart sank like a stone in her chest. Her rather public humiliation by Stefan wasn't even a day old yet, and Caroline was already chasing another guy. Caroline had mentioned talking to Maddie during first period, and Bonnie was pretty sure the formidable elder Gilbert sister had already given Caroline one of her lovely Boy Talks, but either Caroline hadn't listened to a word the girl said, or Maddie had, for some reason, decided she wasn't going to spend the time and energy to try to dissuade Caroline from chasing guys. Having known Caroline for a very long time, Bonnie suspected it was the former. Giving her friend a slightly incredulous look, Bonnie shook her head. "I didn't see him; you did. Why didn't you just talk to him?" _It was probably a mercy you didn't, though. Tipsy, reeling from Stefan's rejection, and meeting with a hot guy would not have gone well for you._

"I don't know," Caroline shrugged a little. "I was drunk."

* * *

**Outside Mystic Falls High School**

Jeremy steeled himself as he stepped out into the parking lot and scanned the area for Tyler Lockwood. What he had seen the dick doing to Vicki last night (_how __**dare**__ he try to __**force **__himself on her?_) had increased his _loathing_ for the spoiled, arrogant jerk _tenfold_, but as of now Jeremy knew the only way he was likely to get news of Vicki was to talk to the asshole. He could always try to find Matt, of course, but he felt rather…_awkward_ talking to the older boy since Elena had broken up with him, and Matt always reminded Jeremy of the kind of boy he _should_ be trying to be right now, and the _last_ thing Jeremy wanted was to be reminded once more of his shortcomings. He was living in a house with three women who were driving themselves up the wall about him, and Jeremy actually considered himself _lucky_ that neither Maddie nor Elena had come to verbally flay him for leaving the house unannounced this morning—_yet_. Matt was the _exemplar_ of what a boy whose parents were…not there _should _be—strong, kind, hardworking, and industrious; he kept his grades up and managed to be an excellent football player at the same time. He had truly taken up the mantle of the 'man of the family,' though that 'family' included only him and his older sister Vicki, to be honest. Matt didn't get drunk or do drugs the way Jeremy did, and every time he saw Matt, Jeremy saw what he was _supposed_ to be, his own conscience accused him _loudly_, and he did _not _like it. He knew he _should _be working hard in school, _not_ skipping classes and ingesting substances; he_ knew_ he should be strong for his sisters and his aunt, _not _giving them daily migraines, but somehow…he just _couldn't _muster up the strength to haul himself up to do all those things he _knew_ he _should_ do. So he tried to stay away from anyone who reminded him of his horrendous shortcomings and tried to forget about what he was _supposed_ to be.

A few seconds scanning revealed Tyler Lockwood lounging lazily by his car, chatting with some other girls, eyeing a few of them with what Jeremy thought to be _quite_ a lustful eye. _Disgusting bastard. _Not only did Tyler not give a crap about his current girlfriend; he was ready to start humping other chicks the moment Vicki was 'out of order' for a couple of hours. The guy was just _insanely_ selfish and uncaring; he didn't care about anything or anyone other than himself.

Clenching his fists and wiling himself to be as nice as he possibly could, Jeremy crossed the distance to Tyler and approached the older boy. "Hey, Tyler," he called as he got close, and inwardly grimaced as Tyler's expression turned to one of loathing as he saw who was addressing him. "Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt," Jeremy said as sincerely as he could as the girls Tyler was talking to turned to stare at him, even though he was not sorry in the least (_any_ inconvenience that he could cause the dick was a _great_ thing in Jeremy's book) "I was just wondering how Vicki's doing, since you guys are so _close_," he laid a special _emphasis_ on the word 'close,' hoping to prick Tyler's conscience, although he _knew_ Tyler and Vicki were…_close only_ in a _physical_ way, "Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Tyler said scathingly, and Jeremy _immediately_ felt he was lying. "Now get out of here," he said coldly, staring Jeremy in the eyes with a look of _great_ dislike.

Jeremy bristled at being addressed so rudely, being dismissed like a little kid Tyler could just push around. _If you think you can bully me, you've got a surprise coming, Lockwood. _

"How bad is she?" Jeremy pressed, asking the question that was plaguing him the most. "Do they know what attacked her? Is she going to make a full recovery?" he paused in the barrage of questions, and then, against his better judgment, asked rather savagely, "Was she happy to see you?" Jeremy greatly doubted whether Tyler cared enough about Vicki to visit her in the hospital, but_ if_ he had, he wanted to know what her reaction to his presence was. A brilliant question that would decipher whether Tyler had _actually_ visited Vicki or not occurred to him, and he asked craftily, "What room number was she in?"

The look of hatred on Tyler's visage had increased with every question that came out of Jeremy's mouth, and now his eyes glittered with anger. "I'm gonna kick your ass," he said between clenched teeth.

Jeremy eyes narrowed at the threat, and he snapped. He was _sick_ of being threatened by Tyler, and he suddenly felt that if he had to get…._physical_ with the older boy, it was _best_ to do it _now _and get it _over and done with_. He had been a fair martial artist before his parents' deaths, taking both tae kwon do and kali classes, and though he had _completely_ neglected his martial arts education over the summer, Jeremy was pretty sure he could dredge up a few good moves from the annals of his memory. At the very least, he'd give Tyler a black eye and a bloody nose. "Yeah, you keep _saying_ that, but _when_ are you actually going to _do_ it? Huh?" Jeremy stepped towards Tyler threateningly. "'Cause I vote for _right here_ and _right now_." To further emphasize his point, Jeremy invaded Tyler's personal space and gave him a rather hard shove.

Tyler's eyes burned, but he did not retaliate—_yet_. "_Walk away_, Gilbert," he hissed, his eyes slits. "It's your _final_ warning."

Jeremy stood his ground, meeting Tyler's furious gaze unblinkingly. "No, _this_ is _your final_ warning, _dick_," he snapped. "I'm _sick _of watching you play Vicki. If you hurt her _one more_ _time_, I _swear to god_, I _will_ kill you." Jeremy _still _wanted to punch Tyler, but he knew he had been given an opening to leave, and even in his anger he wasn't stupid enough not to see the sense in taking it. Turning on his heel, Jeremy stomped off.

"Damn, that was like a death threat," Jeremy heard Tyler say to the girls he had been talking to earlier as he left. "Did you hear that?"

_A death threat it is, Lockwood. You don't want to think about what I will do to you if you hurt Vicki one more time._

* * *

**Mystic Falls High School**

Maddie Gilbert's steps were purposeful as she wound her way through the students in the hallway, glancing around for Matt Donovan. In the past, Matt had been something of a younger brother to her, especially when he was dating Elena, but like so many of her other relationships, her friendship with Matt had fallen by the wayside in the wake of the events of last spring. She'd barely talked to him since the school year started (admittedly the year was only a three days old) but she saw it as her duty to talk to him after Vicki's…incident last night. But Maddie admitted to herself that the _real_ reason she was seeking out Matthew Donovan was that she wanted some _answers_. Everybody was saying it was an animal that had attacked Vicki, but, having seen the girl herself moments after she was injured, Maddie wasn't buying that story. _Especially_ after Caroline told her about the 'animal attacks' that had been on the news. _Something_ was up in Mystic Falls, and as of now Matt was her best lead to getting a hold on the truth. Of course, she could just try strutting into the sheriff's office later this afternoon and demand to know what the truth was…_Oh hi, Sheriff Forbes. You know about those 'animal attacks' that were on TV? Yeah, well, Vicki Donovan was attacked by something last night. Everybody's saying it was wild animals, but in my opinion, there's a psycho loose in Mystic Falls…Yeah, right. Like that would work. _Sheriff Forbes would probably tell her to get out of her office, tell her she was 'poking into what wasn't her business,' not sit down and tell her all about some infamous criminal who had just escaped from lock-up and was terrorizing their peaceful little Southern town.

So, Maddie decided she'd best find Matt Donovan. She could have tried going to the hospital to visit Vicki, but she didn't want to do that. Though she had been relatively close to Matt, she'd never been close to Vicki, even though they were in the same grade. The girl was a troublemaker and a _total_ slut, in Maddie's opinion and Maddie felt she had neither the time nor the interest nor the energy to invest herself in trying to reach out to Vicki. The girl had gotten multiple warnings from school authorities and such over the years, and she kept right on screwing up her life. As far as Maddie was concerned, the girl didn't want to change, and that wasn't her problem.

Near the front entrance, Maddie spotted Matt, heading towards the door with his backpack over his shoulder. "Matt!" she called, and the blonde boy turned around and scanned the area behind him before his eyes came to rest on Maddie. Smiling slightly, he made his way over to her.

"Hey Maddie, what's up?"

Maddie flicked her finger to indicate that he should follow her and led him over into a deserted classroom further down the hall. Shutting the door behind her, she perched on the edge of the teacher's desk and gazed at Matt with her best Concerned Face. "How's Vicki doing?" she asked. "Are they going to release her from the hospital soon?" Maddie wasn't callous; she did feel a _bit _sorry for Vicki because she had gotten hurt (although _what on earth_ the girl was looking for in the _woods_ at _that time of night_ Maddie couldn't imagine and thought it was partially her own fault for getting attacked by whatever), and she thought it best to begin the conversation by expression some concern.

Matt sighed, leaning against the table next to her and raising his eyes to the ceiling. "They're keeping her overnight to make sure there's no infection, but she should be able to come home tomorrow."

_Okay, so she's not life-threateningly hurt. No drama. Good. _"Good. Did you call Flyaway Bitch?" When Kelly Donovan had finally flown the coop and started leaving her children to fend for themselves about three years ago, Maddie had brightly dubbed the woman 'Flyaway Bitch,' despite her mother and Elena's reprimands for 'being disrespectful.' Maddie had ignored their protests and continued to use the nickname to refer to Kelly, who she personally thought was one of the best examples of Horrible Parenting she had ever met personally.

"Maddie, don't call my mom that," Matt protested, but there was no _real_ force behind it.

Maddie shook her head a little. _Really shows what an effing mess Kelly is if her All-American son can't even dredge up a single moderately good defense for her. _Maddie rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said sarcastically. "Did you call Mommy Dearest?"

Matt sighed loudly, staring at his backpack in his motionless hands. "Called and left a message last night," he said bitterly, and Maddie's heart went out to him as she heard the hidden anger and hurt at his mother's neglect in his voice. "She's in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend, so. . .we'll see how long it takes her to come rushing home." He fairly spat the last clause of his sentence, and Maddie sympathized with his disgust with his bitch of a mother.

"Vicki got lucky," Maddie said, hoping her voice sounded sincere.

"Yeah," Matt replied without much enthusiasm. "There's talk of some missing campers, so…she didn't get it as bad as she might have."

Maddie's eyes narrowed instantly. "Missing campers?" she echoed, her voice sounding suspicious to her own ears. _Looks like this problem is even worse than I thought. _ "Did Vicki tell you what attacked her, or is she still knocked out cold by whatever meds they're giving her at the hospital?" Maddie asked smoothly, hoping she sounded as if she just had a casual interest.

"She said it was a vampire," Matt replied, his brow wrinkling. It was obvious he thought his sister didn't make any sense by saying that.

Maddie's blood ran cold; she felt as if someone had just dumped a bucketful of ice-water down her back. _A vampire? _ Maddie had read _lots _of supernatural/paranormal/fantasy fiction over the years, and she suddenly remembered that the wound Vicki had sustained had been _on her neck. _Just about every book she had ever read had stated that vampires liked to feed from the neck best—something about being able to puncture the carotid artery. And come to think of it, there had been no wound anywhere on Vicki _except_ on her neck—and the wound had been bleeding a _lot_. It hadn't been a huge gash as far as she could tell, but _arterial_ bleeds were always severe…

But then the practical part of Maddie's brain kicked in. _That's ridiculous. Vampires don't exist except in books. Maybe Elena's right; I've been reading too many paranormal fiction books…aaaah, but then, I'm not delusional. Whatever. I'll think about it later. _"A vampire?" Maddie said to Matt, raising an eyebrow, careful to appear appropriately scornful and incredulous. "That's…"

"Crazy, I know," Matt said gloomily. "She woke up last night, muttered 'vampire' and then passed out."

"Maybe she's caught that _disgusting_ disease called Twilight-titis. Dreaming about gorgeous Edward…though I _don't_ see the allure of cold, dead dudes with 'I'm-a-horrible-monster-with-no-soul' complexes and PMS."

Matt laughed a little. "I think she was drunk." He hesitated, and then asked in a rush, "What's up with Elena and the new guy?"

Maddie's heart sank. _That _was something she _didn't_ want to talk about. She didn't want to interfere in Elena's love life, and there was the small fact that she didn't even like Stefan…at all. But she didn't want to get Matt's hopes up either; as far as she could tell Malena (as she had dubbed the two of them back when they were dating) was over. _C'est fini. Finis. _"Hmmm…I have no idea? I don't they've even graduated to hand-holding yet, so…" Maddie shrugged. "I don't know. I _will_ tell you this," Maddie lowered her voice and glanced towards the door as if she was about to tell him some top-secret information, "if Stefan hurts Elena, you have my _full _permission to beat the crap out of him. I'll even help. It's amazing what stiletto heels can do to a man's balls…" Maddie clicked the stiletto heel of one of her black booties against the floor for emphasis.

At that, Matt laughed, a real laugh. "Still as feisty as ever, Maddie."

Maddie grinned. "Still the top bitch. Feistiness isn't something you 'grow out of.'" She made air quotes with her fingers.

Matt rolled his eyes affectionately, pushing off the table and swinging his backpack onto his back. "See you around then. I'm gonna go back to the hospital. I want to be there when Vicki wakes up, get the real story about last night," With a nod to Maddie, he strode across the room, pushed open the door, and left.

Leaving Maddie with a mind literally _bursting_ with questions. The dark-haired girl blinked, crossing her arms across her chest as she thought. The missing and the dead…the attack on Vicki…Vicki said she had been attacked by a vampire…there had been a wound on her neck that seemed to have gone all the way into an artery…and what was it Bonnie had said last night? _I have a feeling…that it's just the beginning. No, no, no…_Maddie said to herself. _Stuff like this is only supposed to happen in books…maybe I'm making this up. There has to be a logical explanation for all of this. Vampire are just a legend…fictional like that stupid Count on Sesame Street that always freaked me out (goodness, how I HATED Sesame Street and Barney…could never understand why other kids liked that crap)…or like sexy Bones in _Halfway To the Grave. Suddenly she remembered a line from the play _Hamlet_ by William Shakespeare which her Honors English III class had studied junior year: _There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. _Right on its heels, another saying niggled its way into her mind: _ALL legends begin with TRUTH._

Maddie felt nauseous. Then she started to feel annoyed. Clenching her jaw, she snatched up her backpack, and stalked towards the door. _There are a whole lot of weird things going on in this town, and I'm determined to get to the very bottom of it. _

Once back in the rush of students, Maddie considered as she headed towards the front doors. What could she do to prove her suspicions?-she refused to call them conclusions _yet_. She didn't really see anyone she could talk to about it. If she told Caroline, her best friend would probably think she was going crazy. Bonnie…Maddie really didn't know how Bonnie would react to all this. Her new psychic/witch craze had really thrown a wrench into how she normally acted, in Maddie's opinion. Jenna and Jeremy were totally off limits. Elena…Elena had enough on her plate, and she was starting to perk up due to her association with Stefan (while Maddie was happy her sister was happy, she still wasn't happy it was _Stefan_ causing this new happiness); the last thing Maddie wanted to do was give her younger sister a new reason to frown. And she seemed _mostly _convinced that there was nothing supernatural going on in Mystic Falls, though Bonnie's little spell seemed to have given her some doubts. Amadeo Ricci was the only other option she could think of, but Maddie wasn't keen on giving her music teacher a reason to think she'd gone off the deep end.

As she walked down the front hall, Maddie's eyes fell on the bulletin board (Caroline's huge cheerleading…_art piece_ was still up) and she suddenly saw a poster with the heading: _Ensemble Sign Up_, right next to another with the heading _Mystic Falls Glee Club Sign Up_. Another nearby said _Mystic Falls Marching Band Sign Up_. Breaking out of the flow of students, Maddie walked up to the board, fished a pen out of her purse and signed her name big and bold on the sign-up sheets for Ensemble and Glee Club. Replacing her pen in her purse, Maddie turned and headed for the exit. She raised her chin and squared her slender shoulders as she stepped out into the sunny Southern afternoon and headed for her car, unaware of the unseen but very present eyes that watched her from the shadows of the building.

* * *

**In Mr. Tanner's History Classroom**

Jenna had always felt slightly intimidated by Mr. William Tanner, and she felt the self-confidence she had built up (it was amazing what the fancy bun Maddie had created and the five-inch heels she had recommended had done for her womanly self-esteem…until now) beginning to slowly but steadily drain away with every word that came out of Mr. Tanner's mouth.

"As Jeremy's teacher, I'm concerned," Mr. Tanner said smoothly. "It's the third day of school and he's skipped six of his classes."

Jenna felt her heart sink like a stone to rest somewhere around her navel. _Six? He's doing even worse than I thought. _But she was by no means going to roll over and give Mr. Tanner what he wanted. She was Jeremy's legal guardian now, and she was going to act like it. Meeting Mr. Tanner's hawk-like dark gaze directly with her own gray eyes, she asked in as frosty a voice as she dared, "Mr. Tanner, are you aware that Jeremy's parents died _recently_?"

A look of fake sympathy crossed Mr. Tanner's face as he replied, "Four months ago, a great loss. Car accident. Wickery bridge, if I remember correctly." He paused, and Jenna wanted to slap him for his cold lack of feeling. He continued, in a rather condescending tone, "And you're related to the family _how_? The, uh, mother's kid sister?"

_Miranda had a name, you jerk. She wasn't just 'the mother.' And what's with calling me the 'kid sister'? I'm almost thirty…twenty-nine to be exact. _"Younger sister," she said coldly.

Mr. Tanner smiled unpleasantly. "Right."

Jenna hesitated for a moment, shifting slightly on the rather hard chair. "Yes. Six classes?" she asked. "Are you sure? I mean, that's kind of hard to do." _Or is it? How well do I really know my nephew anymore? He's like a different person these days…._

"Not when you're on drugs," Mr. Tanner said icily, and smiled triumphantly at Jenna's horrified look. "It's his attempt at coping, Ms. Sommers. And the signs are there. He's moody, withdrawn, argumentative, hungover. Are there any other relatives in the picture? Other than his sisters, I mean?" he tapped his chin with a pen.

"I'm Jeremy's sole guardian," Jenna said coolly.

"Uh-huh," Mr. Tanner replied, as if he had been expecting this response. "Could there be?"

"What are you suggesting, exactly?" Jenna asked, hearing the anger in her own voice. The man was literally calling her incompetent _to her face_, and while Jenna already felt that she was failing as a guardian because of Jeremy's…floundering , she didn't appreciate this cold-hearted man telling her that to her face.

Tanner smiled at her patronizingly. "It's an impossible job, raising three teens, isn't it?"

"Maddie and Elena are both _extremely responsible_—Maddie's already a legal _adult_, I might remind you. Jeremy...is having some problems, but it's nothing I can't handle. It's a tough job, but not impossible, not at all," Jenna said, surprised at how confident her own voice sounded.

"Wrong answer," Tanner replied, and he did not even bother to _try_ to sound polite. "It is an _extremely impossible_ job, and you're _not _doing it properly."

At this blatant insult, Jenna leaped to her feet, her face reddening with fury. "I think we're done here," she said, breathing heavily with rage. "Thank you for your time." She strode to the door, half-surprised she didn't trip in her five-inch heels, and wrenched it open. Before stepping out, she turned back to glare over her shoulder at Tanner, who was watching her with a little, condescending smile. "I might remind you that _I _am Maddie, Elena, and Jeremy's guardian, and ultimately you have _no right_ to interfere with how I raise them," she snapped, unable to contain her indignation.

Tanner smiled coldly. "We'll see about that, won't we, Ms. Sommers? If you can get your nephew to quit skipping class, doing and dealing drugs, I will never say another word. If not…" he smiled unpleasantly, "well, as a teacher, it is my responsibility to make sure my students grow into responsible citizens…in _any_ way possible. This may include…a _change_ in environment and leadership," he said delicately, and then turned back to his desk, dismissing Jenna, although she had already pretty much dismissed herself. "Have a good day, Ms. Sommers."

It was with great restraint Jenna prevented herself from storming all the way to her car. What right did that _horrid_ jerk have to criticize her, interfere with the way she ran her family? She was doing her _very best_, and all he did was shoot her down. Jenna used to laugh when Maddie stormed and Elena complained bitterly about what a dick Tanner was, but now, her nieces' complaints didn't seem very funny anymore.

* * *

**Mystic Falls Hospital**

Stefan Salvatore could not quite prevent tendrils of unease—and anger at Damon-from coiling in his stomach as he entered Vicki Donovan's darkened hospital room, feeling very much like a creep (though a part of him _relished _it) as he approached the bed where the girl lay in a light doze. It had been a very long time since Stefan had had to do a compulsion this extensive and intense, and Stefan very well knew that his…_unique_ diet prevented him from being able to compel humans as effectively as a vampire who fed on human blood. In preparation for compelling Vicki, he had indulged in _three_ blood bags this morning, and while they had certainly been delicious while he was drinking them, Stefan could feel them awaking the Hunger he had fought so long to suppress. He could _not_ lose control now, but what could he do with Damon in town? Stefan was _sick_ of being pushed around by his older brother, and he had determined that if Damon wanted a fight, he _would_ give him one. And he _needed _human blood in his system to be able to do that.

But now blood was all he could think about.

Forcing thoughts of his favorite drink of from his mind, Stefan approached the bed and shook Vicki by the shoulders lightly to wake her up. Vicki's green eyes flew open in shock, and she opened her mouth to scream, but Stefan quickly clamped his left hand over her mouth, preventing her from crying out. Her eyes widened in panic and her hands flew up to her face to push against his hand, but Stefan expertly caught her wrists in his right hand and held them tightly. Bending over her so his face was close to hers, and trying to ignore the scent of blood issuing from under the bandage on her neck (oh _why_ did his eyes have to start to prickle and his gums ache _now_?), he made direct eye contact with Vicki and, putting all the strength he could muster behind his voice, ordered in a soft, sibilant voice, "Stop struggling. You are not afraid of me."

Almost immediately, to Stefan's relief, Vicki's pupils dilated, shrinking her green irises, and she relaxed beneath his hands. _Now for the hard part, _he thought, and once again mustering his Power, he held her gaze and said in a clear, silky voice, "It was an animal that attacked you last night. It came out of the night and jumped you. You blacked out. This is all you remember." Carefully, he removed his hand from Vicki's mouth, and was relieved and pleased to see her nod, her eyes vacant.

"That's all I remember," she responded obediently, in the vacant voice humans used when they had been compelled.

Stefan thought it prudent to make sure Vicki was thoroughly compelled, completely forgot Damon's attack on her. Once again making eye contact with the girl, he said, "An animal attacked you. You blacked out. This is all you remember."

Once again, Vicki nodded and replied obediently, "That's all I remember."

"Good," Stefan said sweetly, still holding Vicki's gaze. "You will not remember seeing me here. Forget you ever saw me here. You will shut your eyes and go to sleep and forget about seeing me here."

Vicki nodded, and her eyes fell shut. Satisfied, Stefan arranged her arms on the bed and slipped unseen out of the room.

* * *

**Mystic Grille**

Maddie was beginning to get bored. She had put up with Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena's chatter about the upcoming cheerleading tryouts (she couldn't help but notice that Elena's enthusiasm seemed rather forced) for a full quarter of an hour, and already she was eager to leave the Grille and go home to finish her homework and ruminate over the..._interesting_ information she had gotten from Matt only a little earlier. She was about to open her mouth to hint to Elena that they should be getting home when something Bonnie said caught her attention.

"I was talking to Grams," the petite dcark-skinned girl said, "and she said the comet is a sign of impending doom. The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there was lots of death. So much blood and carnage, it created a bed of paranormal activity."

For what felt like the _nth_ time that day, Maddie's blood ran cold. "A bed of paranormal activity?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, leaning back in her chair, making sure she looked nonchalant. _No matter how much I try to tell myself supernatural stuff like vamps don't exist, the more evidence in favor of their existence I seem to see. _Bonnie's grandmother, Grams, was a little bit…_eccentric_, but Maddie had never known her to be…not sane. She had never told such….crazy stories to any of them, not even Bonnie, not until the beginning of this school year. Seriously, _what _was happening? Why was all this _weird _stuff happening _at once_? Vicki's thing about vampires made sense with what Bonnie said about blood and carnage creating paranormal activity—vamps lived on blood, after all… _Crap, my life is seeming more and more like one of those YA supernatural/paranormal fiction books by the hour, where the heroine sees all these weird things happening but either refuses to or can't put the pieces together and figure it out. Crazy as it is, I'm starting to believe vampires just might exist. _

"Yeah," Bonnie said enthusiastically. "She wasn't really specific about what sort of paranormal activity it was…though…"

Maddie was about to ask Bonnie whether Grams had said anything more about 'paranormal activity' when Caroline cut in with, "Yeah, and then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens. So then what?"

Maddie couldn't help but feel annoyed that Caroline was brushing this off, and Bonnie wore a rather irritated expression herself for a moment before she shrugged and said, "That was about it."

Obviously feeling that Bonnie's information had been exhausted, Caroline rounded on Elena, her eyes eager. "You and Stefan talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy feely of any kind?"

Maddie was _thoroughly_ irritated now. She was _so_ done with Caroline's fixation with Stefan. Sure she might have backed off, _for now_, but Maddie wasn't stupid enough to think that she was asking Elena for the scoop on her talk with Stefan (Maddie thought Elena telling Caroline about that wasn't the best move she could have made) just so she could share in her friend's happiness. No, she was still trying to get info about the Salvatore boy. "No," Maddie said, pointing her finger at Caroline, "_No_. Just _no_. No lame boy talk, especially Stefan talk!"

Elena threw her a very grateful look. "No, Caroline. We didn't go…there."

"Come on, Elena!" Caroline said, ignoring Maddie. "We're your friends, okay? You're supposed to share the smut!"

"We just talked," Elena said firmly, and Maddie sensed her sister was trying to end this train of conversation as quickly as possible, but she was not successful.

Caroline would not be deterred; quick as the blink of an eye, she changed tracks. "Okay what is with the blockage? Just jump his bones already! Ok, it's _easy_. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, sex!"

Maddie was thoroughly revolted now. _Really? Have sex with someone you've known for barely two days? _"Profound," Maddie smiled sweetly, "if you're into one-night stands." She held Caroline's blue gaze and let her disgust and exasperation show on her face. "You're acting like an idiot, Caroline."

Caroline immediately looked hurt, embarrassed, and quite a bit angry. Her face reddened. "You're such a bitch, Maddie!"

"I'm your friend," Maddie replied calmly. _I'm trying to stop you from going any further down this stupid boy-crazy path that's bound to get you into DEEP crap_.

Silence reigned at the table for a few moments; the air had become distinctly awkward. Caroline was glaring across the table at Maddie with an air of injured defiance, while Maddie stared back at her coolly. Elena broke the silence by clearing her throat, starting to push her chair backwards. "It's getting a little late; I think Maddie and I should think of heading home."

"Yes," Maddie said, rising to her feet fluidly. "Au revoir." She turned on her heel and walked towards the entrance of the Grille, Elena on her heels.

Outside, Maddie gritted her teeth. Her younger sister was befriending a guy she didn't like, her best friend was mad at her, and vampires might exist.

What more could a chick ask for?

* * *

_Author's Note: And Maddie gets even closer to the truth. In the next chapter, Elena and Maddie will meet Damon, so stay tuned! Some pretty big stuff is going to happen later in my rewrite of 'Night of the Comet' and I can't wait to see what you all think. I'm still waiting for opinions on who you guys want Bonnie and Maddie to end up with, so if you have a suggestion for a pairing for either of those two girls, please leave it in a review or PM me! _

_I'd also like your opinions on what other supernatural creatures you'd like to play roles in this story...succubi and incubi? Nephilim? Werecats? Avian shapeshifters? _

_As always, please leave a review if you can! Reviews feed my muse and let me know there is still interest in this story. Thank you all very much! _

_Sabre _

_P.S. Some of you who read this chapter earlier may notice that I modified it slightly. In my first version of this chapter Maddie signed up to be on the cheerleading team, but I later chose to remove that point. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused! _


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